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Islamic Schools and Muslims Under Attack by Britain

Parents of pupils at Muslim school Olive Tree primary say inspectors questioned children about attitudes to homosexuality

Richard Adams - 15 May 2014

Ofsted staff were forced to abandon their inspection of a Muslim primary school in Luton on Thursday after being confronted by parents angry that their children as young as nine had been questioned in private about their attitudes to homosexuality.

The inspectors, including a senior employee, cut short their review of the Olive Tree primary school, an independent Muslim faith school, after the group of parents said they would withdraw their children from the school as long as the inspectors remained.

Ghulam Shah, a parent of one of the children interviewed by the Ofsted inspectors, said his 10-year-old son was upset by the way the questioning was carried out, and that as a parent he was concerned he had not been told the inspectors would be discussing sex with his children.

"He was sat with a male adult who looked him in the eye and said, 'What do you know about gays?' What that made him do, it made him panic, and he said 'I don't want to continue this conversation,' because he felt scared, intimidated," said Shah. "It's horrible for a child to be in a room with somebody they've never met before, who's not with a teacher and not with a parent."

A spokesman for Ofsted said: "We can confirm that inspectors withdrew from the second day of an inspection in Luton. However, sufficient evidence was gathered to complete the inspection."

Ofsted inspectors were left to their own discretion regarding the nature of questions about sexuality posed to different age groups, the spokesman said.

Shah said his son told him about the conversation with the inspectors after he picked him up from school on Wednesday.

"He said, Dad, when they took us to the side room, they said 'Do you guys know what gay means?'. My son said, yes, I do know what it means, what's that got to do with our education? They said, 'Are you exposed to it in any way, good or bad, does the school teach you anything about it? My son replied, no, the school has not taught us anything about it but I have heard of the word and I'd rather not have this conversation with you at all."

Shah said the inspector told his son not to be offended, telling him: "It's just a part of the law we have to ask you."

The questioning into attitudes to homosexuality follows reports that Ofsted inspectors repeatedly asked similar questions of Muslim pupils during the investigation into Birmingham schools over the alleged Islamist plot known as Trojan Horse.

But Ofsted said that questions about homosexuality were not restricted to Muslim or predominantly Muslim schools. "As part of any school inspection, inspectors will ask pupils about the effectiveness of the school's actions to prevent and tackle discriminatory and derogatory language – this includes homophobic and racist language," a spokesman said.

Olive Tree primary is an independent primary in the Biscot area of Luton, run by a charity. Those independent schools in England that do not come under the Independent Schools Council are inspected by Ofsted, under standards set by the Department for Education. Those standards include a requirement that schools have a duty to teach pupils tolerance of different groups within society.

The inspectors questioned the group of nine and 10-year-olds on Wednesday, and then met more than 20 parents who attended a scheduled meeting on Thursday morning as part of the inspection. TAt the meeting the parents raised the appropriateness of the questioning, and after discussion between the inspectors, parents and school, the inspectors opted to withdraw, ending the inspection a day early.

Farasat Latif, who is the chair of the trust that runs the school and a parent whose children attend it, said the meeting was largely amicable.

"One of the parents said to them, and all of us agreed, this is a safeguarding issue, we are not comfortable about adults speaking to our children about issues of sexuality. Therefore either you stop the inspection now or we pull our kids out, and they're in the middle of Sats.

"When they realised we were serious about that, they left," Latif said. "This is about sexualising young children."

The inspectors also asked the children if they had seen anything on the news about terrorism that they had discussed in class.

Shah said the inspectors – when they were made aware of the parents' feelings – did apologise for the manner of questioning: "They apologised three times, we should maybe have used an alternative route, maybe asked the head master, maybe asked the teacher or the parents to be present. But [they said] we can't apologise for the law and what we've been sent out to do," he said.

Ofsted inspectors have harshly criticized an independent Muslim school for promoting Salafi fundamentalist beliefs and rated the school as inadequate, in a possible prelude to it being closed or taken over by the Department for Education.

In their unpublished draft report, the inspectors said the school – the Olive Tree primary school in Luton – fails to prepare its pupils "for life in modern Britain, as opposed to life in a Muslim state", and that its library contains books that are "abhorrent to British society" in their depiction of punishments under sharia law.

"Some books in the children's library contain fundamentalist Islamic beliefs (Salafi) or are set firmly within a Saudi Arabian socio-religious context. Some of the views promoted by these books, for example about stoning women, have no place in British society," the report argues.

But the school's governors and trustees vehemently denied the findings of the inspectors, who had been forced to cut short their visit last week after being confronted by parents upset by their questioning of pupils about attitudes to homosexuality.

Farooq Murad, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, on Wednesday wrote to Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, asking him to clarify the watchdog's policy on teaching about homosexuality in independent faith schools, in the wake of the Olive Tree inspection.

In a copy of the letter seen by the Guardian, Murad says British Muslims were concerned by reports of the inspection, and calls on Wilshaw to show "evidence to support the assertion that such questions are not only asked of young children at Muslim schools".

Responding to the draft report, the Olive Tree leadership said the school had no books available to children that described or advocated stoning women, and called a claim that the library carried no books on religions other than Islam "an outright fabrication".

"We have a large number of books about different faiths, which the inspectors failed to notice, including The Diary of Ann Frank," said Farasat Latif, the school's chair of governors, who said the library also included works of fiction by authors such as Roald Dahl.

Latif also denied the school was Salafist – a reference to the conservative form of Islam most associated with Saudi Arabia – although he said some members of staff might describe themselves that way.

The school also disputed several of the other claims made by the inspectors, and described the draft report as a "catalogue of lies, half-truths and blatant Islamaphobia".

"The draft report from Ofsted was Michael Wilshaw's way of teaching a Muslim school a bloody good lesson for daring to stand up to them, an attitude not dissimilar to how the colonial masters dealt with the restless natives," it said in a statement.

An Ofsted spokesman said: "We have shared a draft copy of the inspection report in confidence with the school for factual accuracy checking, as is our standard practice. The final report will be published shortly.

"Any concerns that a school has about an inspection should initially be raised during the inspection visit. If concerns have not been resolved, individuals or schools can raise a formal complaint with Ofsted in line with our published complaints policy."

The inspectors also criticized the mixed school – which had about 60 pupils – for inadequate attention to national guidelines on safeguarding and child protection, although it said pupils were well supervised and that staff appointments and record checks were followed correctly.

The snap inspection was ordered by the Department for Education after reports that the headteacher had argued during a BBC radio discussion that homosexuality was punishable by death in an "ideal" Islamic state. Several other independent Muslim schools have also had recent snap inspections ordered by the department.

Under recent updates to the regulations governing independent schools the education secretary can close or replace the leadership of those rated as inadequate.

The draft report also criticized the Olive Tree school's teaching, although it noted that pupils achieved good results in national standardized tests and were well behaved. It also praised the teaching of Arabic as "skilful".

The report makes no reference to homosexuality, although the inspectors wrote: "Pupils' contact with people from different cultures, faiths and traditions is too limited to promote tolerance and respect for the views, lifestyles and customs of other people."

Latif said: "The inspectors scrutinized the pupils' books and found no evidence of fundamentalist beliefs being taught. So their judgment is on the religion and not what is being taught."

The school correctly points out that this is nothing but an Islamophobic attack for stopping the forced homosexual interviews with these Muslim children. These colonialists want to teach this school and its community a lesson so no other school does the same thing with the next forced homosexual interviews.

Previously, after the outrage by the parents and retaliation, the inspectors ran off with tails between their legs, stating they had completed their inspection anyway. Shortly after, to pay back the Muslims, they issued bias report stating school was “promoting” salafi beliefs and should be shut down.

Since then Britain education system and politicians started a Muslim Witch Hunt, going after Muslim schools under the claim that they are “Trojan Horses with extremist links” and are being influenced by these links because of some so called “letter” that was sent to their office. External independent inquiry revealed no such threats and the whole media, education and politician frenzy of “Trojan horse” is false and unfounded, exposing the real extremists and islamophobe bigots in Britain. Following articles are related to all that, post inspector interviews linked above.

Birmingham City Council insisted there was no evidence of extremism in city's schools as MPs held an inquiry into claims Islamist hard-liners plotted to take over colleges.

Councillor Brigid Jones, the council's Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services, told MPs: "Any direct evidence of extremism has yet to be presented to me."

And Mark Rogers, Birmingham City Council's chief executive, said he believed the original letter which set out details of a plot named "Trojan Horse" to take over Birmingham schools was a fake.

He said: "I have yet to be convinced that it is an authentic letter from one plotter to another.

"I think what it sets out is a set of issues that somebody had some concerns about and wanted action over."

They were speaking to the Commons Home Affairs Committee which is conducting an inquiry into claims that schools, including Park View School in Alum Rock, have been infiltrated by extremists.

Lee Donaghy, Park View's vice-principal, insisted the school never tolerated any extremist views and claimed critics were motivated by prejudice against Islam.

He told MPs the criticism came from "plain old Islamaphobia, either witting or unwitting".

Park View was one of five Birmingham schools placed into special measures by Ofsted following inspections as part of investigations into the alleged plot by hard-line Muslims to take over schools in the city.

Liam Byrne, the school's MP, has written to Education Secretary Michael Gove following a weekend meeting with parents, saying: "The large majority of parents want the governors to resign now so a fresh team of parents can be elected to draw up an action plan to respond in full the findings."

Mr Donaghy said the school "honours the faith of the pupils, it respects the faith of the pupils inside the school", for example by broadcasting a call to prayer which pupils are free to attend or not.

But he insisted it never segregated pupils by making boys and girls sit apart. The school had invited Christian and Jewish speakers to address pupils as well as Muslims, he said.

And he said: "There's been a willful misrepresentation of things that we've done and some things have been outright lies."

While inspectors from Oftsed and officials from the Education Funding Agency had published criticisms about the school, for example by claiming a biology teacher had said Muslims did not believe in evolution, many of these had been extremely vague and failed to name the teachers involved, making it impossible for the school to investigate them, he said.

Mr Donaghy told the inquiry: "I'd like there to be some consensus about what we mean about extremism.

"To me, that means there are practices that are imposed or enforced on people against their will and I don't see any evidence of that at all."

He said much of the criticism had been motivated by Islamaphobia, although in some cases this may have been due to ignorance about Islam and Muslim communities rather than malice.

And he insisted inspectors from Ofsted could not have given the school a fair hearing when they make inspections prompted by the "Trojan Horse" letter.

He added: "There's no way that inspectors could have come into the school in that climate and made a judgement in an impartial way. There's no way the school in that report is the one that I work at."

Coun Jones said she had heard nothing about allegations of a plot to infiltrate schools before she saw the letter in October 2013.

The council took the letter to West Midlands Police but they told them there was no need for them to take action.

"It seemed clear the letter was a hoax of some kind because it contained contradictions and 'many inaccuracies'," Coun Jones said.

They demonised Muslims and Islam. They accused Muslims of Isamicising secular schools. They got it wrong, so where’s the apology? I mean the apology won’t take back all the hate against Muslims that they have put out there for over a decade. It won’t eradicate Islamophobia that leads to many attacks on Muslim women, however it is a start. But no, there’s no apology.

You will remember a few weeks ago, the media frenzy regarding schools in Birmingham. These were schools that were in Muslim majority residential areas, where therefore not surprisingly the majority of the students were Muslims.

Their main fear was that Muslims were taking over. Again this is to spread their racist agenda. To make the average British person think that there is something to fear about Islam and Muslims. In fact, if Muslims are making a few rules about a school where the majority who attend are Muslims, is that really such a bad thing? The Islamophobes will tell you, yes as this is a non-Muslim country. We are not talking about outsiders coming to our country, we are talking about British people who are Muslims. I myself went to a majority white school and adhered to the cultures and norms of the school, so why is it such a bad thing if British Muslims change a few things to suit their culture and norms? The answer is that we are not seen as equal. We are seen as a backward people who enforce their backwards way of life on others. Their racist agenda.

The accusations that the schools went through are totally ridiculous. The one that mainly caught my attention was that an Islamist connected with Al-Qaedawas invited to address people at a school. This is absolutely hilarious! That a person connected to Al-Qaeda was even allowed to enter the country just shows a failure to the British Intelligence services. So why weren’t they investigated? Surprisingly no name was given to this Al-Qaeda secret guy.

The media must really think all Muslims are terrorists. Imagine if that did happen, and a student went home and was asked by the parents, so what happened at school today? The child answers well we had an Al-Qaeda guy coming to our school and teaching us about jihad! Does the media not think that the parents themselves will complain? Do the journalists who write for these newspapers not think at all? Well it definitely appears that way.

However, I couldn’t see any apology from any of the news outlet that had reported these false claims. We should all be totally sick of the blatant Islamophobia that is presented to us by main stream media.

It’s time we held the media to account and let them know what we really think about their lies. There are over 2 million Muslims in this country and millions of conscious non-Muslims who hate this kind of racism too. Together we can make a difference. Together we will stop their lies, God willing.

Ask them why they made a big fuss over something without any real evidence. Ask them why they are spreading the racist agenda. Most importantly of all, demand an apology. How can we take them seriously if all they do is make false claims?

Birmingham City Council officials investigating an alleged plot by Muslim hardliners to take control of schools say they have seen no evidence of links to extremism, BBC News has learned.

But they have found "significant grievances" about governance and leadership, some on a large scale.

Officials were secretly recorded at a meeting with governors and teachers on Wednesday and a copy sent to the BBC. Birmingham City Council did not comment as the investigation is ongoing.

Education watchdog Ofsted and the Department for Education are also looking into the claims.

More than 20 schools in Birmingham are being investigated after a letter, apparently sent to someone in Bradford, claimed a Muslim faction had sought to gain influence over schools and remove staff who were not sympathetic to its religious agenda.

Wednesday's meeting was held to give an opportunity for teachers and staff from the schools who have featured in the investigations to speak directly to Birmingham City Council's chief executive, Mark Rogers, and Peter Hay, its director of children's services.

Although they are not directly controlled by the local education authority, representatives from academy schools were also present.

The meeting was taped by one of the attendees and the recording has been sent to the BBC, as well as other media organisations.

'Firestorm' expected

It is clear from the tone of the meeting that the authority is frustrated by the lack of information it has received from Oftsed and the Department for Education.

The meeting was told that the council's plans to publish interim findings of its own investigation, led by Ian Kershaw, had been delayed until the first week of June.

That is at around the same time that Ofsted will publish the reports of inspections carried out at 21 schools in the city. The city will not see any advance copies of the results of the Ofsted inspections, but will receive the overview reports the night before they are made public.

Mr Rogers warned those present to expect a "firestorm" when the reports were published, and to prepare for "significant structural changes" within the education department as a result of the findings.

Mr Hay said that the council had uncovered nothing which indicated any extremist links at any of the schools but many significant "grievances" related to what he described as "HR issues", some of which were long-standing and on a large scale.

'Witch-finder general'

The teachers and governors expressed a number of worries. Some schools felt the Ofsted inspection process had been unfair.

Another said that it had never been told why it was being investigated, and could only guess that it was because one of its governors had links to another school which had been subject to the alleged plot.

Many at the meeting expressed unease at the appointment of the former head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Unit, Peter Clarke, as an education commissioner to run a separate investigation for Education Secretary Michael Gove.

One person described Mr Clarke as "the witch-finder general", but the council said it was happy with his appointment, that he was the right man for the job and there would be no duplication between the parallel inquiries.

Birmingham clearly expects to come in for as much criticism, if not more, than any individual schools, and said that a separate Ofsted inspection into its Children's Services Department, which has been rated as inadequate for five years, will be published at the end of May.

Michael Gove's toxic assault on schools is based on naked discrimination

By branding religious conservatism 'extremism' in Birmingham, ministers are making it clear that different rules apply to Muslims

11 June 2014

The harassment of minorities on the basis of forged documents has a grim history. So the official onslaught on mainly Muslim state schools in Birmingham, triggered by what has all the hallmarks of a fabricated letter outlining a supposed Islamist plotto take them over, should be cause for deep alarm.

Instead, the architect of the clampdown, education secretary Michael Gove, has been hailed by the bulk of the press for standing up to "extremism". Inspectors have now turned their attention to an alleged Islamic takeover of schools in Bradford, and a local MP has demanded action to halt the "Islamist infiltration" of east London politics.

All this is music to the ears of the neoconservative Gove, who regards political Islam as a totalitarian "enemy within" and has gone to war with the home secretary, Theresa May, over who can claim to be toughest on Muslim "extremism". Four separate inquiries, including by the former head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, have been set in train.

Now the schools inspector Ofsted, transparently under political direction, has done what was expected of it. Five schools have been put in special measures, four lined up for takeover and 11 others taken to task – mostly for not teaching children enough about the threat of extremism.

But this extremism turns out to be a different beast from the one first trailed in lurid accusations a few months back. It is nothing to do with terrorism, or even the elastic boo-word of Islamism. The target is religious conservatism – or even just plain religiousness.

But for Gove – and now David Cameron – "nonviolent extremism" must be targeted as much as its violent counterpart. For those unclear what extremism might mean exactly, the government last year defined it as "opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect".

So the inspectors had no problem finding the evidence required and what they claimed was a "culture of fear and intimidation", even if the evidence was thin on the ground. Teachers and parents say the fear and intimidation was ratherspread by inspectors, who turned their findings on their head in 10 days.

They came up with a string of allegations, most based on hearsay, contested or exaggerated out of recognition according to teachers and parents. Christmas had been cancelled, it was said, music banned, an extremist preacher had addressed pupils, girls and boys were segregated, western women had been described as "white prostitutes".

The only prostitute mentioned turned out to be in a homily of the Prophet Muhammad's about a woman who saved a thirsty dog, Christmas events abounded in the censured schools, music was taught and gender segregation took place in PE, as in many other schools – while single sex schools are common across the country.

But the absurdity of the inspectors' findings is clearest in the case of Gracelands nursery school, whose staff were taken to task for failing to ensure its 2- to 4-year-olds were protected against "extreme and radical behaviour".

That's not to say, of course, that there's nothing behind the allegations, which have clearly been fed by former and current staff – or that there aren't legitimate grievances. These are not faith schools and some have clearly pushed the schools' religious boundaries.

It's just that they have nothing to do with extremism or terrorism, and could have easily been dealt with in a routine system of accountability. Instead, schools which had delivered outstanding results for deprived communities are now smeared and destabilised – and their pupils with them.

There's a powerful case for secular education. But it doesn't exist in Britain's schools, which are awash with religion. And unless the same rules apply to all, the result is naked discrimination. But has Gove sent inspectors to root out anti-abortionism and homophobia in Catholic or evangelical-sponsored schools, or cultural isolation in mainly white schools where racism is rife?

Not at all. Nor has he investigated the influence in schools of far-right extremists. Instead, he's effectively ordered two Birmingham schools serving overwhelmingly Muslim populations, Oldknow and Golden Hillock, to hold a "daily, broadly Christian act of worship" (excused in other such schools).

Of course, Gove's drive to break up and part-privatise the English school system has cut away the local accountability which could have checked some of the problems in Birmingham, which are now being used to line them up for a real takeover by his pet academy chains.

But the campaign to bring to heel Birmingham's schools and humiliate the Muslim community in the process is a wider threat in a country where war-fuelled Islamophobia is already rampant. Dog-whistling to Ukip bigotry might seem a cute electoral trick.

However, it risks driving Muslims from participation in public life, pushing Muslim pupils out of the state sector and boosting the extremism the government claims to be battling. Gove's assault on Muslim schools in Birmingham isn't about British values: it's a poisonous campaign of discrimination and intimidation.

SeumasMilne: In fact, it was Michael Gove himself who pointed out in 2012 that the Equalities Act didn't apply to the curriculum — and defended Catholic schools' right to use material regarded as homophobic.

He also argued that Catholic schools could escape "unsympathetic meddling" with their "Catholic traditions" by becoming academies.

Michael Gove has been accused of cynically using the “Trojan Horse” schools row to push an ideological anti-Islamic agenda within the Government.

Whitehall sources revealed that behind the scenes the Education Secretary has been pressing David Cameron for months to widen the Government’s definition of Muslim “extremism”.

And they suggested that he has used allegations of a plot to “take over” a number of schools in Birmingham to press the Prime Minister to agree tough new measures to secularize schools in Muslim areas.

One said: “Michael Gove’s views are so incredibly black and white. It’s either his way or no way. He seems to think that anybody who strictly follows Islam is not really integrated.

“And he thinks anybody who holds conservative Muslim views is a bit of an extremist. He has been using Birmingham to pursue an ideological agenda that he’s had for many years.”

Mr. Gove’s stance is understood to have caused unease among cabinet colleagues including the Home Secretary Theresa May and the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

In particular both were angry at his decision to appoint Peter Clarke, the former head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism department, to investigate the Trojan Horse claims using ministerial statutory powers. They believed they had an agreement with Mr. Gove that his role should be voluntary. Ms. May and Mr. Gove are said to have had a number of “spats” in cabinet committee meetings.

A Downing Street source told ITV News that Mr. Cameron was “keen to establish the facts” about the row.

Some in education circles are also questioning whether the problem in Birmingham is as significant as claimed by Mr. Gove. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers – who is representing several Birmingham headteachers (principals) – said he did not believe the allegations had the “widespread impact that some of the stories have suggested”.

The disagreements between Mr. Gove and Ms. May became public today after Mr. Gove appeared to brief a newspaper that the Home Office was failing to “drain the swamp” of radicalized Islam. But this prompted a furious response from the Home Secretary, who authorized the leaking of a private letter in which she appeared to blame Mr. Gove for the scandal, demanding to know “why nobody [had acted]”.

The Home Office and Department of Education put out a statement saying: “There is no difference between the Education Secretary and the Home Secretary, who are both working energetically together to tackle the challenge posed by any form of extremism.”

Khalid Mahmood is an unremarkable character. However, this man has, at every major policy level implication regarding the Muslim minority, by and large taken the neoconservative line against and to the detriment of, the Muslim minority. Born in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and a graduate from UCE Birmingham (not to be confused with University of Birmingham) in engineering, Mahmood was elected as a Labour MP on 2001 for the Perry Bar (Birmingham seat).

Anti-Muslim Policy Support

His voting choices on critical motions which have impacted the Muslim minority are worth an analysis as they indicate towards an excessive “Uncle Tommery” towards neocon domestic and foreign policies.

Iraq

Mahmood was absent when voting against the motions for the Iraq war. In a recent radio interview on Unity FM, he claimed he was in hospital. The only problem is that looking at the voting motions, he was absent on all critical motions (on four separate days spread across six months) at which he could have rejected. Furthermore, Mahmood has never really come out to condemn the Iraq invasion, perhaps to keep both the Muslim community of Birmingham at bay and keep his neocon masters (Policy Exchange for instance) happy at the same time. On the question of the necessity of the Iraq Investigation, of the sixteen possibly motions over the course of six years, for two he was absent, and for the remainder motions he votedvery strongly againstsuch investigations. Why would Mahmood want to delay an inquiry to a war which resulted in 500,000 Iraqi deaths? If anything it is another way of minimising government scrutiny and opposing the principle of government accountability to the people.

However his erosion and opposition to democratic principles, especially with regards to the Muslim minority, does not stop there. Mahmood has consistently voted strongly for the anti-terror laws which have ripped up human rights and the habeas corpus. At everyone opportunity he has followed the neoconservative line of opposing human rights wherever possible. For instance, in the motion to reject the House of Lords amendment which explicitly stipulated the necessity for compliance with human rights obligations, specifically Article 6 Right to Fair Trial, Mahmood voted in favour of the removal of this amendment.

In what can only be regarded as an extreme obsession in doing away with human rights, Khalid Mahmood even voted for the motion of extending detention of a suspect without charge to 90 days from 28.

Syria

Only towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year, in a sudden policy switch on Syria from supporting and arming rebels to changing the narrative to “Islamist” blowback, the government and police have been hounding Muslim charities, humanitarian aiders and even Muslim mothers. However, from amongst the first people to talk about the as-yet-unverified-claims of “Islamist radicalisation” of youth, albeit in a slightly altered form was Khalid Mahmood. In 2012 BBC reported that,

Mr Mahmood said the situation around Syria reminded him of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

“I am extremely concerned at the moment because I see similar things to what happened during the initial stages of the Afghanistan war where we were supporting the mujahideen against the Russians,” he said. The MP also fears there could be a security risk from people returning to the UK after fighting in Syria who may have been trained and “been brainwashed by some of the leaders out there”.

What would one expect when you are attending meetings on PREVENT held by “experts” from the Henry Jackson Society. Of course Mahmood ignored the fact that, in his comparison example (mujahideen fighting in Russia), there were no “blowbacks”. In fact one of them (Usama Hasan) swung completely the other way and became part of the narrative against the Muslim minority!

Mahmood thus, is in fact one of the first to contribute to the discourse which has resulted in the thwarting of the ethical humanitarian response against the brutal Assad regime. It has exasperated the categorisation of the civil war in Syria from an Internal Armed Conflict (and thereby subject to the Geneva Convention) to terrorism.

Rings of Steel

Back in 2010, newsbroke out in Birmingham that under the premise of combatting “burglary and crime”, “rings-of-steel” had been set up around Muslim majority areas of Birmingham tracking the movements of residents. They consisted of over 200 cameras, including automatic numberplate recognition cameras, 64 of which were classed as “covert”. This programme, euphemistically named Project Champion, had been funded with counter-terrorism money with approval from MI5 and Home Office. After a campaign by residents of the affected areas, the cameras were eventually removed.

When three individuals were arrested on terror charges, Mahmood used it as an opportunity to justify Project Champion and called on it to be re-implemented. To date, his human-rights violating calls have fallen on deaf ears in Birmingham. Of course he ignored the fact that the arrests he was using as justification were based off investigations without the intrusive, Big Brother-esque surveillance cameras. On top of this, his call was tantamount to a justification of ethnic and religious profiling as the cameras were specifically set up in Muslim majority areas. This would not only unsettle the mind of every upright, reasonable and conscionable human (a description which is sadly not applicable to Mahmood), but it would violate international law.

Of course Mahmood has in the past attempted to justifyMuslim profiling in opposition to… Maajid Nawaz! In fact Mahmood’s ridiculous levels of blind obedience to neoconservatism led him to call Maajid Nawaz and Quilliam apologists for extremism.

Mahmood and the “Trojan Horse” Plot

Of late he has joined the cacophony of voices, without substantive evidence and in-line with the neocon Government-architected hyperbole which has been riddled with procedural short-comings and bias, and has placed the Muslim minority of Birmingham under the spotlight. Mahmood has been pushing the Sufi/Salafi divide which has been the strategy employed by neocon policies and organisations such as the Sufi Muslim Council and Radical Middleway in the past. According to a report earlier this month,

Mr Mahmood told the Mail said he wanted a thorough investigation and claimed people running some city schools were Salafis – hard-line Muslims – who may be ‘‘trying to import their views into classrooms and the day to day running of the school.

“But the majority of kids are Sunni mainstream Muslims,’’ he added. “It is an attempt at indoctrination.”

With such dangerous – not to mention patently false – comments, one would expect this to come from someone like Michael Gove or perhaps Quilliam. In order to understand Mahmood’s statements, one has to analyse the root of his sectarianist understanding. His mentality is tied to a simplisitc cultural understanding of “Sunnis” and “Wahabis”. By highlighting “mainstream Sunnis” and “Salafis”, Mahmood is bringing this cultural understanding of extreme sectarianism to the politics of the UK. Theologically, Salafis and Sunnis are the same thing, with Salafis being an orthodox Sunni school. But this of course does not sit with Mahmood’s neocon friends in the government, nor his intellect for that matter. Shockingly, recently he even supported known Muslim-hater of the Ismaili religion, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and regurgitated the “Wahabi” takeover myth.

Mahmood the Possible Root of “Trojan Horse”

Gove and Mahmood have history. A history which points to Mahmood as one of the roots of this Trojan Horse plot. Back in 2010, during the days of the ideological, neocon imposition of Sufis being the government-friendly, peaceful “mainstream” Muslims, Michael Gove announced that there were “genuine dangers” in Birmingham which had been targeted by “Islamic extremists” trying to infiltrate the education system. He declared that he had been working with Mahmood to “counter the threat”. The method of countering was having workshops which can only be tantamount to brainwashing of children into a particular sect: they taught students about Sufi music. According to Mahmood,

“[T]he aim was to teach young people about the true nature of Islam and counter the false impression they might get from extremists who deliberately target students.”

If Mahmood could, with government approval, impose a particular ideology on Muslims, what moral ground does the DfE or Ofsted have to investigate schools if the parents themselves who are of different Islamic understanding choose to become governors and get involved in the development of their child’s education? This picking and choosing of one minority over another minority violates international norms related to minority rights and is deeply repugnant. The Human Rights Council-authorised Sixth session of the Forum on Minority Issues, in their recommendations clearly stated that there should be a recognition of variances of within a minority:

The diversity that exists within religious minority groups must also be recognized. The rights of every single member of such minority groups must be respected fully. (A/HRC/FMI/2013/3, 26–27, November 2013, para. 13)

Not only does such opportunist highlighting of the simplistic “Sufi/Salafi” divide in political arena violate this recommendation it highlights the grotesque nature of neoconservatism in their wanton pursuance of the divide and conquer policy, in flagrant violation of international norms.

Returning to Mahmood, he boldly declared that he was working with Gove and Theresa May, the government-certified extremist. In short then, this fabricated school-takeover hyperbole has been hatched in cahoots with the neocons before, although with less publicity as there is now. And with Gove having successfully instigated the coup of the Department of Education and compromised the Ofsted, all the tools, including the sycophantic Mahmood, are at his disposal to perpetuate the mass-hysteria at the expense of the Muslim minority and hard work of the schools of Birmingham.

The above analysis points to Mahmood being the causal-link at the most and a major driver of the Trojan Horse plot at the very least.

Concluding Remarks

Mahmood then, has a history of supporting his neocon masters. He has by and large toed the line of the neocons, be it national or foreign policy. Recently, he even wrote a letter to Gove asking him to encourage teachers who previously worked at the schools (read: disgruntled employees) to come out and safely give evidence. The fact that Mahmood is an advisor to the anti-Muslim, Henry Jackson Society whose Associate Director is the Muslim-hater neocon extremist Douglas Murray, speaks volumes about his neocon-serving capabilities and his credibility.

There is so much I have left out on this man. From his support of all things anti-Muslim and anti-human rights to him giving oxygen to hatemongers like Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Michael Gove and the Henry Jackson Society, Khalid Mahmood is a danger to the Muslim minority as well as Britain herself. People of Aston and Perry Bar, please do not vote for this Uncle Tom again.

It is slowly becoming clear that the Trojan Horse plot in Birmingham Schools was a hoax, but while the attacks on Muslims become more and more common, do you think Muslims will demand an apology?

A few weeks ago, the media was in uproar about the supposed ‘terror invasion’ in Birmingham schools. The alleged claims are that ‘Islamists’ are trying to ‘take over’ schools by changing the curriculum, pushing out non-Muslim staff, segregating male and female students and generally being …well… too Muslim…

The story was MASSIVE; published in every paper, every news channel, made every headline. But recently the media has gone a little quiet about the story, wonder why? No, it’s not because the investigation has ended- more so because it is slowly becoming clear that the supposed letter was a big fake- just as most Muslims already suspected.

And do you think Muslims will even demand an apology? Again, probably not.

We as a society have become so conditioned by the Western media and propaganda to believe that Muslims and Islam are inherently bad that we are perfectly happy to sweep this one under the rug, just like so many other allegations about Muslims.

But why is it that so many Muslims, themselves listen to the negative things said about them and their religion, even after knowing they are false?

This entire spectacle has been just another example of how society has become so used to the attacks on Islam and it’s followers, that it is now a norm to make ridiculous accusations and for no one to bat an eyelid. Muslims are once again seen here as ‘the other’- ‘the outsiders’ who have no place in British society. If you let them in too much, they will take over, teach British kids whatever they want (which is probably to hate the West and everything it stands for), and will eventually drive you- the kuffar- out.

Why should we demand an apology?

This feeds directly in to the narrative painted about Muslims. Muslims are told day in, day out how they are evil and that their religion is one of hate. They have been conditioned to not feel proud of their religion and feel instantaneously that they are less superior. Instead of demanding an apology about the misrepresentation of their religion, like ANY other faith group would do, Muslims have just been licking their wounds, buried their head in the sand and waiting for the next Islamophobic attack.

But these comments aren’t going anywhere. They are becoming more and more common, filtering down to the average Joe and leading to physical attacks on our brothers and sisters. Innocent men and women being attacked for being Muslim. And guess what? Because these allegations made are tolerated, physical attacks on individuals will also eventually be tolerated- justified even.

The time has come for the Muslim community to grow a pair and teach our younger generations that we do have some self worth, some self respect and are won’t tolerate being treated unequally in the UK. And most importantly the right to defend ourselves.

If Muslims don’t start demanding to be treated equally in the UK, to not be demonised, then the truth is that the hate won’t go away —the attacks will just get worse. We can no longer bury our heads and wish our problems away. We have to confront them, and we have to confront them now.

I would like to state from the outset that the intention of this exposé is not to inflame communities, or to posit one community against another. It is rather to establish the truth which has been the first victim of this war against Muslim-majority schools in Birmingham.

Before delving into the purported names and details of the individuals alleged to have written the Trojan Horse document and actively instigated the Gestapo-esque investigations, it is worth getting some history on the schools in Birmingham.

Most of the schools targeted were previously failing schools. New governors have come in and results have drastically improved. A governor whose school was one of the schools targeted in the press as well as the Trojan Hoax investigations, highlighted that,

“Traditional leadership were in their comfort zone. There was no sense of a drive for achievement. No real concern that some of schools were hitting barely 30% GCSE pass rates.”

The reason for this was that the governors consisted of broadly two groups. The first group were mainly Muslims, who really did not know what their responsibilities entailed. In many cases in Birmingham, the governors barely spoke English. The second group was somewhat passive; they did not really engage the school teachers, but seemingly made the effort to be there. For instance, Lynn Morris, a practising Christian and the former principal of Joseph Chamberlain lives in Shropshire, yet would travel down to attend governors meetings at Golden Hillock school.

Incidentally, her successor at Joseph Chamberlain College, Elly Tobin, is known to be a “racist” according to employees in the college and has allegations of use of intimidation against employees when her anti-Muslim attitudewas brought to the attention of local MPs and the college was investigated in 2011.

Returning to the Birmingham schools, as a result of the two groups, targets were not set, performance of teachers were not reviewed and the impact of this resulted in children being let down. The governor underlining this stated,

“The leadership had easy life and schools were failing. The stats on the DfE website are an evidence of this.”

It is therefore not a coincidence that as parents and governors became more aware of their rights, and became more involved with the education of their children, the quality of education and achievement rapidly increased year on year. It is also no coincidence that the school governorship started to better reflect their community. As the governor highlighted,

“As the governors starting to go on training, we started to implement that training in failing schools. The resignation of teachers or governors who were not hitting performance targets was a natural consequence of the implementation of that governor training.”

Riverside Evangelical Church Converts Muslim Children

Practising, evangelical Christians are the sources behind the crisis which has hit Birmingham over the past months. They are linked to a controversial Church called Riverside, located on Moseley Road Birmingham, near Queensbridge School. Sunday morning services for the Church areheld at the school. Queensbridge School’s head teacher has been renting out to the Church at a massively discounted rate. A governor in Queensbridge School has confirmed that Riverside Church would use the venue at a rate of £3.75 per hour; others were not able to rent out the place because the rate is normally much higher.

The close relationship between the school and the Church has prompted concerns related to proselytising amongst the people in Birmingham. My sources in Birmingham have spoken directly with teenagers at Queensbridge School, who were raised Muslim but converted to Christianity due to the brainwashing of Riverside Church.

Reverend John Ray and the “bullied” teachers

Reverend John Ray is the source of the information now being imparted. He was a governor at Golden Hillock School for several years and during this period the school was failing drastically (right up until the school turned into an Academy in December 2013). He has claimed that he may have had “something to do with the Trojan Horse plot”. About a week after Peter Clarke’s appointment to head the investigations in Birmingham, Reverend Ray encouraged two female teachers at Golden Hillock School to give evidence that they had been bullied to the point they had to resign.

The reality was that pupils taught by these teachers, despite estimating high grades for them, were achieving substantially lower grades. One of the two teachers was repeatedly off sick for long periods of time. Through the school’s internal process, the teachers were placed under a performance review. No sooner were the teachers made aware that they were to be placed under review, they resigned.Reverend Ray, taking advantage of the situation, encouraged them afterwards to give evidence that they had been bullied into resigning. Reverend Ray claims he himself drove the two teachers to Peter Clarke to give testimony to him.

Sources of the “Trojan Horse” Fabrication

In a drastic change of heart, Reverend Ray has disclosed that he had a “good idea” of who was behind the “Trojan Horse” document. Below are the names which have been forwarded from my sources in Birmingham, alleged by Reverend Ray to have been behind the Trojan Horse document and the instigation of the entire fiasco:

CECIL KNIGHT OBE (Former Head of Small Heath School)

Cecil Knight is a practising Christian educationalist. He is used as a reference in a book entitled, Whatever happened to Religious Education (2000), which argues against secularised Religious Education and in favour of a committed presentation of Christian traditions for pupils (see Chapter 6 footnote 26).

Knight has a history of concern regarding Muslim involvement in schools. In article in the Independent, (Sunday February, 1996), distastefully titled, “Mohammed knocks at classroom door”, Knight highlights the keenness of Muslims to get involved in education and foreshadows a chilling future,

Cecil Knight, head of Small Heath school, a mixed comprehensive in Birmingham where 96 per cent of pupils are Muslims, says parents are much quicker to complain than they used to be. “We have a generation of Muslims who have come through the education system and are much more competent at articulating the aims and desires of the Muslim community,” he says. “They are not willing to compromise to the same degree.“

When he was responsible for writing a multi-faith RE syllabus for Birmingham, 25 years ago, he could find only three or four Muslim teachers to help him in the whole city. Now he has six, plus two classroom assistants, at his school alone.

“It may well be that there is more trouble ahead.I just hope we don’t reach the stage where there is out-and-out conflict,” Mr Knight says.

It seems that Knight believes the stage of an “out-and-out” conflict has been reached. And the Trojan Horse document is his lance deployed in the direction of the Muslim minority.

Interestingly, Knight has appointed Peter Slough, also a devout Christian, as the Head teacher at Small Heath school. Slough is also thought to be behind the Trojan Horse document, although there is some uncertainty. According to sources close to the school, there is a close-knit community of teachers who are now seeking to undermine the incoming head-teacher. It is alleged also that Slough brought in his deputy head Sue Smith on the basis that he knew her – both of them previously taught in an international school in Saudi Arabia. The school teachers are known to bring in close relatives and friends. For example the head of technology department has recruited his wife as one of the teachers in his own department.

Slough is known to be good friends with Michael Gove. They have attended cricket matches together and at a teachers’ meeting was quoted as frequently playing “golf together”.

MATTHEW SCARROTT

Scarrot has been referenced in a few articles in the context of the Trojan Hoax plot, including Andrew Gilligan’slies and distortions. Gilligan references Scarrot in his diatribe where he states,

“The replacement of secular, non-Muslim heads has been a key goal of the radicals leading the campaign.”

What the deceitful Gilligan failed to mention is that the new head teacher in-charge is Mr Hardeep Saini, a non-Muslim. Some plot Gilligan.

Scarrot was failing Golden Hillock School for a number of years. Under his tenure from 2010-11 the school required improvement. The school’s GCSE pass rate was at 58% in 2011. In 2012, the rate dropped to 38%. This prompted up to 50 parents to protest outside the school. In February 2013, the chair of governors was concerned and so he went to the Local Education Authority which suggested that he be put under performance review. Scarrot resigned thereafter.

Gilligan, and now Wilshaw and Gove have conveniently missed these points. For 4 years the school remained in a state which required improvement. Why was it allowed to stay in this situation, and not be put into special measures? Is it something to do with the fact that another evangelical Christian was the head teacher at that time?

TIM BOYES

Tim Boyes of Queensbridge hosts controversial Riverside Church

Boyes is the famous “whistleblower” who claimed he had raised these concerns in 2010. However his “concerns” are nothing but a sham in order to halt the progress of Muslim-majority schools with an aim to “inject” Christianity into them. Boyes is another evangelical Christian and has been referred to by the respected Father, Oliver Cross of Small Heath as someone with “missionary tendencies” focussed on Muslim as the “enemy territory”. He favoured Christian staff in majority-Muslim schools and saw themselves as Christian missionaries “who cared not for the education of children in majority-Islamic schools, but were desperate to inject a bit of Christianity amid enemy territory” (see full quote here)

Boyes, as exposed in an earlier blog, has been condemned by the parents of Moseley in Birmingham, where he was alleged to have “…smeared and instigated the removal of the Moseley School Governing Body with the support of cronies in Birmingham City Council…”.

To top this off, as already mentioned above, he has being giving block bookings to controversial Riverside Church at an substantially subsidised rate.

Concluding Remarks

The above piece should not be construed or used as a means to attack the Christian faith. Indeed churches have supported Muslims and the movement to challenge the hoax allegations. I commend them for supporting the truth.

The allegations against the Muslim minority of Birmingham have been shifting. From “Jihadism” to extremism to a “threat of radicalisation” and now religious adherence and “bullying”, the barometer to measure the evilness of Muslims as come down over time but the scrutiny and demonisation has not. Quite conversely, the Muslim minority of Birmingham, under the bright spotlight of neocon anti-Muslim Michael Gove, has been intimated, falsely accused and plotted against.

Riverside Church-linked, Christian evangelicals Cecil Knight (and possibly Peter Slough), Matthew Scarrot, and Tim Boyes are the individuals who have been put forward by Reverend John Ray as being behind the Trojan Horse document. With the neocon Michael Gove, sharing similar sentiments regarding education, as evidenced by his sending of Bibles to schools, the plot is ostensibly a Christianist extremist one, as opposed to an “Islamist” one.

A badly written letter was sufficient letter to launch a war-like campaign against Birmingham’s schools. There are serious allegations here which should prompt similar levels of investigation. There are more people out there who know more details. I know some of them. Others know more. They need to start coming out to counter this grave injustice.

Education secretary Extremist neoconservative Gove's assault, who regards political Islam as a totalitarian "enemy within", on Muslim schools in Birmingham isn't about British values: it's a poisonous campaign of discrimination and intimidation. He and his cronies in City Council and the extremist Christian evangelicals were afraid of Muslims being successful in the society so they put their own in charge of these Schools. Not only did these radical extremist Christian fundies converted brainwashed Muslims with proselytizing but also purposely did nothing so the schools would fail. When they were put on performance review to be held accountable for their jobs, they quit and ran away. Who is going to hold these extremists accountable in their extremist Islamophobic society? Islam extremism isn’t the problem, it’s the Christian Extremism and Islamophobia that is the problem!

A couple of days ago Channel 5 ran an “exclusive” which stated that officials had ignored warnings over extremism. The comments were made by an “anonymous” former senior teacher at Golden Hillock School, depicted in a shadowy short-clip in which she made her revelations. As with most of the reports regarding the Trojan Hoax allegations, most of the sources have not been named. Wilshaw claims to have spoken to many heads in Birmingham for instance, however, dubiously, he does not mention the names. I say dubiously, because given the agenda of some evangelical teachers in Birmigham, his track record, and affirmations from (non-Muslim) sources that he is aGove-lackey, an extra level of scrutiny is required with regards to the allegations which come out.

As for the “exclusive”, who is the source for this report?

Slater is another practising evangelical Christian linked to the controversial Riverside Church and is alleged to be the “whistleblower”. Her background is interesting. Slater had applied for a deputy role at Golden Hillock School against the advice of Matthew Scarrott, the head teacher. Sure enough Slater did not make the grade (much like most of the students who have been let down there for the past 4 years) and fell through the recruitment process against stronger candidates.

The above would generally be sufficient to dismiss her claims as a disgruntled employee getting her own back. However the “plot” thickens.

Matthew Scarrott was married to a Christian Indian lady. According to sources in Birmingham, it is a well-known fact that when the couple separated a close relationship developed between Scarrott and Slater, to the point that even school children in the playground made jokes about them.

In other words, Scarrot and Slater are linked and given the fact that Scarrott is one of the alleged individuals behind the Trojan Horse letter/instigation of the investigations, it is more than a mere coincidence for Slater to come out and add to the chorus of allegations against the schools in Birmingham.

Allegations against Golden Hillock School

Sources in Birmingham have been able to confirm whether the allegations made by Slater have any validity. Many of her allegations distort and ascribe falsities to the school and their governors.

According to sources in Birmingham who have confirmed with the school, this is a,

“patently false claim which is deliberately designed to feed into the Trojan Horse claims”.

There is no evidence whatsoever to substantiate such claims, I have been told. Current governors have recently (in February 2014) approved the sex education syllabus without any concerns and the governors are unaware of any claims of forced wearing of headscarves or targeted “ousting” of teachers.

It has been confirmed that there have been no emails sent from the current governors to any of the teachers including the head teacher.

Slater: “The jokes were ‘Ofsted didn’t find us teaching children how to make bombs”

Again, these are false allegations against the governors. None of the governors have said this.

Slater: “So I would feel that if someone wouldn’t shake my hand – that it was my fault for offering my hand…”

According to multiple sources it has been confirmed that there is nobody on the current governing body that would not shake a woman’s hand. This is corroborated by the fact that a female Ofsted inspector came to the school and the governors had shaken her hands. Furthermore, the view of “not shaking hands”, is rooted in normative Islam – it comes from the Islamic ruling that unrelated males and females are not permitted to have physical contact. To conflate adherence to Islam with “extremism” reinforces the notion that this is an attack on Islam itself, and is clearly linked to Michael Gove who regards normative Islamic practices as “extremism”, as confirmed by Whitehall officials.

The Survey

The survey highlights three main things: the lack of representation of views, confidence in the governing body and support. More significantly, the survey has nothing to do with extremism.

It has been claimed by Slater that “They claimed that they had the full support of the staff body… They haven’t got the support of the staff body, and a staff survey would certainly reveal that that just isn’t true.” My sources have again confirmed that current governors at Golden Hillock School have never claimed that they have full support of the staff body.

Teachers have been put on performance review to ensure they deliver. The school has been under-performing and the new governing body has only been in place since 4th December 2013. The school, governors and teachers have been under pressure to ensure the school performs. Naturally those who cannot cope will leave, or complain. The irony is that Michael Wilshaw himself has claimed that,

“If anyone says to you that ‘staff morale is at an all-time low’ you will know you are doing something right.”

It is asserted in the report that the survey demonstrates the “depth of anger” from the teachers. However, it is alleged that the staff governor at Golden Hillock School has said in a governing body meeting that she is sure that,

“Staff will support any initiatives from the governing body that strengthen and protect the school’s reputation.”

However sources have claimed that it is the same individual (staff governor) who has instigated the survey, casting doubt on her claims.

Nepotism – What about Slater’s Riverside Church Friends?

The following saying is most apt regarding these allegations: when you point a finger, remember there a three pointing back out you.

With regards to claims of “nepotism”, i.e. that people have been put into place without the necessary qualifications, my sources affirm that it is possible in some cases that the appointments were “questionable”, but stressed that this may have been reflective of the previous governing body at the school. The current governing body had no involvement in such posts.

Interestingly, multiple sources have confirmed that there are most certainly cases of nepotism amongst Slater’s Riverside Church circle in the school. According to sources close to Golden Hillock School, Slater is very good friends with Jo Tyler, another Riverside Church attendee. She started out as a bookkeeper for the school, but under Matthew Scarrott’s leadership, she was accelerated to a position which was specifically created for her – business director – earning circa £60,000 a year. Furthermore, Tyler’s mother is also employed at Golden Hillock as a librarian and Tyler’s husband has been brought in as part of the teaching staff.

It gets worse.

The husband’s best friend has been employed as the care taker of the school, whilst Tyler’s nieces and nephews have been paid to do decoration work around the school during the summer!

I have been informed that these cases of “nepotism” have been communicated to Ian Kershaw who is currently investigating the Trojan Hoax allegations in Birmingham.

Finally, Channel 5 in its report also decides to jump in on the fabrications brigade by claiming that,

“…Golden Hillock School Governors have so far declined to comment.”

This is, once again, completely false; none of the governors for the school were contacted for the Channel 5 “exclusive”.

Concluding Remarks

A network of evangelical Christiansare working in synchrony to provide support to the Trojan Hoax claims through various lies, twists and distortions. The Trojan Horse letter, Tim Boyes’ claims of complaints, timed resignations of Matthew Scarrott, Peter Slough and soon his deputy head teacher in Muslim-majority schools, and now Scarrott’s love-interest Karen Slater’s not-so-anonymous “extremism” claims reflecting anti-Muslim neocon Michael Gove’s views, there seems to be a well-oiled initiative to target Muslim-majority schools.

Karen Slater joins Cecil Knight (and possibly Peter Slough), Matthew Scarrott and the infamous Tim Boyes on the list of purported instigators of the attack on the Muslim minority of Birmingham. As I have said in my previous exposé, there are more people out there who know more details. They need to start coming out to help expose the real plot to undermine schools in Birmingham at the expense of the Muslim minority.

The fanatical extremists took high positions in Muslim Schools and for 4 years they let schools slip down to failing level and in addition to convert Muslim students with their unethical deceptive ways they orchestrated all this Trojan Horse propaganda with their zionist dog Gove to attack the Muslims. As highlighted in the other articles, these extremists feared Muslims being successful in the society. So typical of these losers who lack the ability to be successful on their own so they bring others down instead of trying harder themselves. This is why they started the whole propaganda -

England's Chief Inspector of Schools is today accused of abandoning "objectivity and independence" in his handling of the Trojan Horse scandal and of "tarring" a generation of Muslim children with "the brush of extremism".

In a coordinated attack city leaders, officials and businessmen in Birmingham said Sir Michael Wilshaw's "ill-advised and ill-informed" approach to "isolated" problems in the city had damaged community relations and led to a teacher recruitment crisis.

They suggest the Chief Inspector is attempting to deflect attention from Ofsted's failure to identify problems in schools they previously judged "outstanding".

"While we have no intention of belittling the serious issues at play, Sir Michael has crossed the line from [giving] independent advice on the schools system to a full-on attack on the city of Birmingham," said Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. "The Chief Inspector of Schools should be motivated by overall improvement for the children of the city. His tirades appear to be motivated either by politics or self-publicity, or both."

He went on to accuse the Ofsted head of deliberately trying to damage Birmingham. "Sir Michael forgets that these public and high profile attacks go way beyond supporting the city in improving schools performance, safeguarding or governance. He entirely ignores the numerous success stories and positive examples from the area to focus on the negative experiences of a minority."

Until now, senior figures in Birmingham have remained diplomatic in their comments about Ofsted's Trojan Horse investigation, despite private misgivings about its remit, method of inspection, and findings.

Last week, however, Sir Michael used an appearance before MPs to lay the blame for problems found in five Birmingham schools squarely at the door of the city council. Now senior local government officials and politicians have accused Sir Michael of deliberately misrepresenting problems with governance in a small number of schools by associating them with a wider threat of Islamic extremism.

"We've had to deal with a national political agenda that has deliberately conflated religious conservatism with an extremist agenda that is all to do with radicalisation and violent extremism," said Mark Rogers, chief executive of Birmingham City Council. "It doesn't reflect the issues that are going on in our schools.

"Sir Michael appears to be unclear about the delineation between him as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector appointed by the Privy Council to provide independent assessment and getting involved in politics. "He has not observed the distinction between that role and making quasi-political commentary."

Mr Rogers, a former head teacher himself, who only took the job in Birmingham after the scandal broke added: "I am seeing things which I have seen over 25 years of being in the business which are now being packaged as an extremist agenda as opposed to good old-fashioned bad governance and mismanagement."

Speaking before the Education Select Committee last week, Sir Michael said Ofsted had found evidence of a deliberate, orchestrated attempt by some governors to target schools in Birmingham that had resulted in the removal of head teachers and staff being threatened. This, he added, "made children vulnerable to extremism". He accused Birmingham City Council of being "pretty useless" and said there had been a "lack of confidence in Birmingham council to support head teachers" before the Trojan Horse claims.

But Mr Rogers pointed out that there was evidence head teachers were raising concerns at exactly the same time when Ofsted was judging a number of the schools concerned as outstanding. Mr Rogers added that four out of the five schools placed in special measures by Ofsted were academies – institutions over which the city had no legal right to inspect or intervene in, as they were entirely independent of local authority control and reported directly to the Department for Education.

And he said Ofsted's combative approach had set back community relations in the city. "Our communities take a very simple view of this: they hear that this is the behaviour of extremists and our Muslim communities feel themselves being tarred with the brush of extremism by big national figures. They are hugely concerned about that, feeling very defensive and, in some instances, are worried about whether there will be repercussions from other parts of the community who will believe a narrative that does not have any substance to it."

Brigid Jones, who is responsible for education on Birmingham City Council, said Ofsted's stance had hurt both children and teachers. "He's not talking about the Birmingham that I know," she said. "He says Birmingham schools are dysfunctional but when you look at our results, we are way above the national average. Our kids are really worried about what their schools will look like on their CV. They think people will think they've got a bomb in the backpack. We've also got real recruitment problems with teachers. We can't recruit governors either. We are really unrepresented with ethnic minority governors but no one wants to go anywhere near us now – especially Muslims – because they just feel under attack and under suspicion. Mr Wilshaw's comments are just going to make that worse."

More than 60 teachers in Newham have signed an open letter to Michael Gove, saying the Trojan Horse affair has increased Islamophobia in the borough.

The letter, written by award-winning poet Michael Rosen and author Alan Gibbons, was also signed by Alex Kenny, secretary of the east London branch of the National Union of Teachers.

It accuses the Education Secretary and the press of using the story to fuel racism in schools and ignoring allegations of the Trojan Horse dossier being a fake.

Robert Ferguson, of Newham Sixth Form College, said the affair had been conducted in a way that equated Muslims in education with extremism and terror. He said: “This is having an impact especially in Newham and other parts of east London. I have been approached by colleagues really concerned, but also determined to take a stand.”

Operation Trojan Horse refers to an organized attempt by Islamists to spread extremism through schools in Birmingham, detailed in a leaked letter that was discovered in March.

Mr. Ferguson said: “I am a secularist teacher and believe firmly in the separation of religion and education while upholding the freedom of individual religious observance and practice. But the response to the alleged issues in some Birmingham schools, based on a letter acknowledged as a forgery, has been designed to target one community and one faith alone.”

Anti-terror chief Peter Clarke is leading an investigation into the claims. A Department for Education spokesman said: “The allegations made in relation to some schools in Birmingham are very serious and we are investigating all evidence put to us in conjunction with Ofsted and Birmingham City Council. “Retired senior police officer Peter Clarke has been asked by the Secretary of State to make a full inquiry into the schools and the background behind many of the broader allegations in the Trojan Horse letter. “It is vital this investigation is carried out impartially, without pre-judgment.”

GILLIGAN, JEWISH SCHOOLS AND THE DISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT OF THE MUSLIM MINORITY

July 18, 2014

There is no doubt that there have been failures, from governance issues to power-play, the problems entail a wide diaspora of issues in schools. The key point is this however: these problems are most certainly not peculiar to one faith, demographic or group. My articles in exposing various details of the attacks on the schools have sought to highlight the discriminatory targeting of the Muslim minority – they have never sought to exonerate any mistakes which have been made, unless there are good reasons in doing so, such as the plethora of lies, twists and distortionswhich have been peddled in the media.

This neatly brings us to my favorite reporter. The sock-puppeting “journalist” that is the hype-whore Andrew Gilligan did another piece mainly targeting the Jewish community.

Is Gilligan trying to restore some balance in his reporting by targeting the Jewish community? No Gilligan. One tokenistic piece is nothing compared to the targeted harassment of Muslims you have dished out over the six months and the continued surveillance you or your cronies subject victims too.

Despite some similarities in the allegations made about the Muslim faith schools/madrassas in the UK, and the Jewish schools (that they are insular, non-integrative and “indoctrinating”), there has not been an outcry regarding the Jewish community and the fallaciously constructed possibility of terrorism, despite the fact the British Jews are serving in the IDF. Neither have any of the neocons in Government blustered over the “shocking” revelations which are unseating “British values”, whatever they may be. After all according to the report, a number of Jewish schools stop teaching secular subjects to focus on yeshivas (religious studies), with Yiddish being the sole language being taught. In spite of this, no allegations, by Gilligan, are made of “hardliners” pushing “hardline” beliefs (as was done in the context of Muslims) and neither was the appellation “extremist” used to describe any of the aspects of the school’s “preaching”. Zionism is taught in their syllabi. Will Wilshaw be forming policy suggestions based on the potentially extremist nature of their curriculum and link it the fact that Zionism is a supremacist ideology which has been condemned as racism?

Gilligan’s discriminatory writing style reinforces the sentiments Muslims are increasingly expressing in the face of the media barrage: the label of “extremism” and other negative terms like “hardline” are Muslim exclusive. Traditional practices amongst the Jewish are “orthodox”, similar practices amongst Muslims are “hardline” if not “extremist”.

It is this subtle language bias which reinforces stereotypes marginalizing the Muslim minority. And this is ignoring the fact negative reporting of Muslims is disproportionately greater than any other minority group. As of writing, besides Channel 4 and the Telegraph, no other major news outlet has bothered to run the story.

Albert Bore of the Birmingham City Council wrote in a largely missed article that,

“Out there in the Muslim community it’s bloody difficult because they feel they’re being pilloried, they feel they are being treated very differently from the rest of society.” And they’re not wrong to feel that way, he suggests. “I have a case in a very white area of the city where evangelical Christians tried to do something very similar – tried to change the ethos of the school from within by putting governors in there.” But Christians aren’t being castigated by the media, education secretary or Ofsted for infiltrating school governing bodies. Muslims are.”

The media as well as the government is consistently targeting and failing the Muslim minority. Far from countering stereo-types, respecting minorities within minorities and encouraging pluralism in society, the government and the sections of the media have massively contributed to the complete opposite: disproportionate targeting, smearing and distortions which have done nothing but reinforce negative stereotypes of Muslims.

The UK government in its FCO Human Rights report submits that it adheres to and maintains the propagation of the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18. It also advises other states to be mindful of their obligations under it.

The Resolution calls on states:

“To foster religious freedom and pluralism by promoting the ability of members of all religious communities to manifest their religion, and to contribute openly and on an equal footing to society”

The Sixth session of the Forum on Minority Issues on “Beyond freedom of religion or belief: Guaranteeing the rights of religious minorities”, (A/HRC/FMI/2013/3, 26–27, November 2013), advises states that,

“Education should counter negative stereotypes and myths about faiths and groups, promoting plurality” [which incidentally would help the prevention of regurgitation of common distortions regarding Islam]

The reference of the “Trojan Horse” itself is aderogatory termed used for Muslims, yet all, from government officials like the neocon Michael Gove to teachers peddling lies and distortions likeKaren Slater and Tim Boyeshave inexorably fueled this “plot” thus reinforcing the stereo-type that orthodox Muslims are somehow the “enemy within”.

Perhaps our government needs to look in its own back yard and its treatment of the Muslim minority before calling on States around the world to recall their obligations under the Resolution.

Teachers welcome the departure of Michael Gove from the Department for Education in David Cameron's ministerial reshuffle, saying he was 'more of a liability than an asset'

07/14/14Teachers hailed the departure of Michael Gove today after the politician once dubbed a “demented Dalek” and the “most hated Education Secretary in history” was stripped of his portfolio in the reshuffle.

Classroom unions claimed the Education Secretary had paid the price for his “ideological drive” to overhaul the schools system in the face of huge opposition from many in the teaching profession.

He has been replaced by Nicky Morgan, the Minister for Women and Equality, who will keep the brief alongside running the Department for Education. Elizabeth Truss, the Education Minister, has also been moved, winning a promotion to the Cabinet as Environment Secretary.

It brings an end to a bitter four-year war of words between Mr Gove and the education establishment – teaching unions and Left-wing academics who he famously dubbed the “the blob” and “enemies of promise”.

He faced repeated opposition to many of his reforms, including the creation of independent free schools, the expansion of academies, performance-related pay for teachers, a radical overhaul of the exams system and the creation of a new back-to-basics national curriculum.

The National Union of Teachers once called him a "demented Dalek on speed who wants to exterminate anything good in education".

He has also been called the "most hated education secretary in history".

Last week, the NUT staged the latest in a series of strikes, fuelled by Mr Gove’s refusal to personally negotiate over a series of their most high-profile complaints.

Today, Christine Blower, the union's general secretary, said Mr Gove had “clearly lost the support of the profession and parents for justifiable reasons”.

“His vision for education is simply wrong,” she said. “His pursuit of the unnecessary and often unwanted free schools and academies programme, the use of unqualified teachers, the failure to address the school place crisis and endless ill-thought out reforms to examinations and the curriculum has been his hallmark in office.

“Michael Gove’s search for headlines over speaking to the profession has clearly angered teachers. We remain in dispute over the direction of Government policy, which we believe is undermining the education service.”

According to an NUT poll earlier this year, some 79 per cent of teachers believe the Coalition has had a “negative impact on the education system”.

More than eight-in-10 opposed the academies and free schools programme and three-quarters said morale in the teaching profession has fallen since the last General Election.

At the most recent NUT annual conference, Mr Gove was dubbed “a parody of an Education Secretary" and the “man with a mad idea for every occasion”.

Ian Murch, NUT treasurer, added: “Michael Gove, the demented Dalek on speed who wants to exterminate anything good in education that's come along since the 1950s.”

Mr Gove failed to address any teaching union conferences in his four years as Education Secretary, often leaving the job to his deputy, the Schools Minister. He did appear before head teachers’ associations.

Speaking today, Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the Prime Minister has “belatedly realised that Michael Gove’s ideological drive is no substitute for measured, pragmatic reform of the education system”.

“Time after time he has chased newspaper headlines rather than engage with teachers,” she said. “The dismantling of the structures which support schools, the antagonism which he displayed to the teaching profession and the increasing evidence of chaos in the bodies he established has led Cameron to one conclusion – Gove is more of a liability than an asset.

“Successful education systems value the views of the teaching profession, which Gove insulted when he called them ‘the blob’.”More recently, Mr Gove also fell out with the Home Office and repeatedly angered Nick Clegg by opposing his plan for universal free school meals for infants.

He also appeared to clash with Ofsted, recently sacking Baroness Morgan, the Labour peer, as the watchdog's chairman, even though she was well liked by Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector.

Al Hijrah School is an independent Muslim school with an Islamic ethos. Shock and horror, other schools representing other faiths like Orthodox Judaism and Catholic Schools, are also permitted according to law to run their school baseds upon a specific religious ethos. In some cases they can discriminate, I am told, on even marital status – there have been instances of senior Catholic teachers forced to leave because they have divorced their spouse.

One would think it would be normal to have teachers and governors who would adequately represent this ethos as they are best placed to actualise it. For instance, how would the Jewish community of Stamford Hill react if their school’s entire governing body along with their school’s senior leadership team were replaced with Muslims/Christians/Athiests who would then mock the Jewish ethos? Not terribly well I would presume.

Al-Hijrah School and the parents of the pupils are suffering worse.The entirety of the interim-governing body is non-Muslim, and there are growing allegations that the governing body has been actively pushing out Muslim teachers and replacing them with non-Muslim teachers from another school:Calthorpe Academy.

There is a clear atmosphere of intimidation and bullying of the teachers who are afraid to say anything against the Senior Leadership Team, and any complaints which are made are currently falling on deaf ears.

Threats of Decapitation to Children

On either the 15th or 16th of September, Graham Hardy, who is the head of Calthope Academy and who has taken charge of Al-Hijrah, is alleged to have threatened children as young as 6 and 7, that if they did not behave, then he would “chop off” their heads, and on another occasion, chop/pull off their ears.

The police are currently investigating the matter.

Hardy has admitted that he has said these things, but in jest. He has also allegedly confirmed, startlingly, that he has said this on a number of occasion to pupils at Calthorpe who have then gone on to reiterate the same back to him. One would question what values are being instilled by such an individual.

Parents have complained to David Willey, the Chairman of IEB (Interim Executive Board – the governing body which has taken over), to Social Services in the Council and the Police. However, the response to these shocking allegations have been far from electrifying and somewhat slow. The parents are legitimately asking, what would the response be if it was a Black or Muslim Teacher?

No doubt a spread would have been plastered in the Daily Mail with Headlines “ISIS IN BRITISH SCHOOLS”, whilst Andrew Gilligan would have had another “Trojan Horse Only Tip of Iceberg with Threats of Beheadings” and the full combined force of the EFA, Department for Education and the Birmingham City Council would be applied.

Allegations of Sexual Harassment, Young Girls Touched

Perhaps the most shocking allegations are related to Graham Hardy’s conduct. He has undermined and attacked the Islamic ethos of the school.

My sources have personally spoken to witnesses and parents and can confirm that there are instances where Hardy may have behaved in such a manner. There are two instances in particular which serve as a cause for alarm. The first alleges that Hardy mocked the Islamic ruling which does not allow a male and female to be alone in a room together. Thus Hardy allegedly mocked a female Muslim teacher saying that a male teacher “wanted” her in a room alone “all to himself”. The female staff member is said to be very upset and disturbed by this incident.

In other instances Hardy has mocked Muslim female staff stating to them that they will be cooking for their husbands when they go home, reinforcing a condescending stereotype.

The second issue relates to touching of young girls. My sources however have not been able to confirm exact names involved and what the extent of the allegation is. The only point of confirmation from parents is that somebody from amongst the new staff members has/have touched young girls “inappropriately” and against “parental expectation”.

No Action on Complaints

The teachers were (and still are) intimidated by the IEB and Hardy and therefore had not made any complaints. However according to sources, repeated complaints have now been made to the Birmingham City Council. Despite this, the BCC has not acted upon the complaints and is allegedly trying to suppress the information.

Parents and those concerned have been trying to bring these issues to media attention however, it seems the media has not been too keen on the dangerous allegations being made. Parents I have spoken to have confirmed that video recordings with the BBC were made with vexations highlighted, however the BBC did not publish it anywhere.

In an attempt to get their voices heard, some parents have set up a rudimentary forum upon which they update each other about this situation at the school.

Squandering Finances

Based on the key incidents which a source has confirmed, there seems to be a concerted effort to destabilise the school.

One of the issues surrounding Al-Hijrah School was the concern of the Birmingham City Council (BCC) about its deficit, notwithstanding the fact that the BCC was the body which was signing off the cheques. Since the takeover of the school by Hardy and the BBC, sources are alleging money is being used on things not required, and “to protect their own backs”.

The CCTV camera equipment, though perfectly adequate, has been replaced by a brand new system, which is linked over the web through to Calthorpe. This has occurred without obtaining parental consent for their children to be viewed from another premises. Furthermore, questions are being raised as to whether the strangers who may have access to this feed have got the necessary DBS/CRB clearance. Alongside this, an additional £5,000 has been spent on checking electrical points (despite it being validly checked and passed in Easter 2014 and the certification being valid for 5 years).

Sources have also confirmed that Hardy has terminated the contract for the HR department, incurring a premature termination penalty of at least £10,000 and anything up to £21,000. On top of this he has hired another HR company for a cost of £9000.

Hardy is also purportedly using the BCC Legal Services department inappropriately. The local MP, Liam Byrne has asked for an exact cost of these “legal services”, however the BCC has not been forthcoming with the information whilst it is still unascertained as to whether the expenses are being drawn from the children’s school budget.

Given the deficit already in place, such wastage of money is reckless to say the least and highly circumspect.

What exasperates this sentiment is the fact that the spending on children’s materials has been halved, thus Muslim school children entering into this academic year have not had adequate materials to work with. Scheduled work around the play around has also been allegedly canned.

Sadly, it seems Hardy and his ported friends from Calthorpe have their own interests in mind at the expense of the Muslim minority and in particular, the children.

Concluding Remarks

Many assurances have been made by the new, BCC-approved IEB governors as well as the senior leadership team which simply have not been met. There has been a distinct lack of communication between the parents and the school, whilst the children are suffering in this agenda-driven bureaucracy. This seems to be the case in other schools which have been attacked through the Trojan Hoax pretext, as already reported in articles about Park View Education Trust (for Muslim teachers being replaced by non-Muslim teachers at PVET see here, for transparency issues at PVET, see here).

Had it been the case that Muslims were making such threats and behaving in such a rash manner, there would be no end to the media reports from the likes of Andrew Gilligan and Richard Kerbaj and Peter Clarke, Michael Gove (gate-crashing of course), Nicky Morgan along with David Cameron would be bludgeoning in with the full weight of the government. As the perpetrators at Al-Hijrah School are non-Muslim, this will not be the case and the abuse, it seems will only continue unless upright individuals brings this to the mainstream public domain. As one of the sources spoken to said,

“The Trojan Horse lies have legitimised Islamophobia to such an extent that we are now suffering in silence while anti-Muslim individuals are discriminately bullying without fear of any ramifications. It’s horrible.”

This is no longer an Islamic school. It has an islamic name only and Muslim students only, but it is being run by anti-islam bigots with their own personal agenda to run down and shut down these schools, to devalue Islamic values, to threaten kids with beheading, to sexually abuse little girls and then have cameras all over campus that are being viewed by who knows who on off campus location. Had this been a Christian or Jewish school, this BS should not have gotten far. Parents should pull their kids out and home school, especially after these pedophiles start touching them. UK is full of Pedos, we have seen numerous news reports coming out daily about Anglo Christian pedos and their pedo rings containing judges, lawyers, mayors, cops, teachers, and other white collar kuffars pedophilia epidemic.

Ofsted orders east London schools to change or face closure amid concerns that pupils are not being taught British values

Six independent Muslim faith schools in London’s East End must make urgent changes or be forced to close, the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, said after Ofsted inspectors faulted them for failing to promote British values and safeguard their pupils.

According to analysis by Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted’s chief inspector, six private schools in Tower Hamlets “focused intensively on developing Islamic knowledge and understanding at the expense of other important areas of the curriculum”, ignoring creative subjects such as music and art.

In one of a series of reports published by the watchdog, a primary school pupil at East London Islamic School told inspectors he believed he would “go to hell” if he participated in music or dance.

“Given the evidence gathered from these inspections, particularly in relation to the narrowness of the curriculum, I am concerned that pupils in these schools may be vulnerable to extremist influences and radicalisation,” Wilshaw said in his advice note to Morgan, published alongside the reports on the six schools.

Ofsted said that at Mazahirul Uloom School, a secondary school for boys, pupils were unable to tell inspectors which of sharia law or English law was more important. “Students presented a narrow view of the role of females in society. Some students told inspectors that ‘women stay at home and clean and look after the children. They cook and pray and wait for us to come back in from school and help with homework’,” the inspectors reported.

“While there is no suggestion of a coordinated plot, it is clear that these schools are failing children and this is unacceptable. All schools must prepare children for life in modern Britain,” Morgan said, ruling out suggestions of a “Trojan Horse 2” – a reference to an alleged extremist plot to take over schools in Birmingham earlier this year.

“We will now be demanding urgent action plans from the independent schools and expect to see improvements within weeks. If changes are not made, then we reserve the right to force the closures of the schools involved,” she said.

Ofsted also said it had uncovered evidence at Sir John Cass, a Church of England secondary school in Tower Hamlets, of girls and boys being segregated during breaks and lunchtime and of the school leadership ignoring warnings by the police that sixth-formers were using social media sites bearing the school’s name to post links “to individuals associated with extremist views and actions”. Students also appear to have posted messages discouraging students from attending school events, such as a fundraising karaoke evening.

“One posting states that any sixth-form students who attended a leavers’ party and engaged in ‘free-mixing’ or ‘listening to music’ would face ‘severe consequences later’,” inspectors noted.

“Senior staff and governors failed to inform students or parents of this serious concern. Neither was any information, education or training provided for students, staff, governors or parents.”

Sir John Cass and the six private schools – Ebrahim academy, the East London Islamic school, Jamiatul Ummah secondary, Mazahirul Uloom, London East academy and Al-Mizan primary school – were failed in the wake of snap inspections ordered by the Department for Education last month after it received evidence of concerns. Sir John Cass saw its rating downgraded from outstanding to inadequate and was placed in special measures.

Outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, near Al-Mizan and the London East academy schools, one woman with a son at Al-Mizan, who declined to be named, said: “I’m really confused. I know the school, but I’m just waiting to hear more. After the Ofsted report, I don’t want to say any more.”

Harun Asif, a former pupil at Jamiatul Ummah, said the report on his old school was inaccurate. “As far as I’m aware, the school never promoted any political ideology. It taught basic Islam, basic faith, fiqh [jurisprudence] and sunnah [teaching of the Prophet Muhammad], and didn’t promote any specific ideology or any other political form of Islamthat the state would consider radical,” he said.

Asif studied GCSEs and A-levels at Jamiatul Ummah, and is now in his final year studying physics as an undergraduate at King’s College, London, having interned at Google. “I also went to madrassah when I was as a kid and I can compare the educations. When I went to [Jamiatul Ummah] school I was taught about all these other opinions; in the madrassah I was taught one opnion,” Asif said.

Ofsted’s inspectors criticised Jamiatul Ummah for failing to develop pupils’ understanding of “the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance”.

A teaching assistant at one of the schools ridiculed Wilshaw’s assertion that the schools were preparing pupils poorly for British life. “This is east London. What do you mean, ‘not ready’? I feel that’s really patronising. Why focus on Muslims? It’s creating fear,” she said.

As well as raising concerns about teaching and curriculum, the Ofsted inspectors were highly critical of the schools’ facilities and practical safeguarding issues. At the London East Academy, parts of the building are open to members of the public, while Al Mizan had fire exits chained shut during the day.

At Jamiatul Ummah, inspectors described the school building as “shabby and dirty and in need of significant repair” and warned of hazards to pupils and staff at Ebrahim academy including “electrical sockets and switches damaged or hanging off walls”.

Two county councils in southeast England have asked local teachers to inform police about students suspected of Islamic extremist connections. The request shows authorities’ concern at young Britons joining the Islamic State’s cause.

Earlier in September, Buckinghamshire County Council sent letters to 230 schools, The Sunday Times reported.

“If you have any . . . concerns, especially with regards to young people or their friends, or family members being persuaded to participate in the conflict [in Syria and Iraq] or commit acts of terrorism here, please take the opportunity to talk to one of the police officers you see on patrol in the local community,” says the letter, entitled: “Advice on raised terrorist threat level”.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets has also made a similar request, the paper says. Both areas are well known for their ethnic and religious diversity.

Several schools have reportedly informed police about such cases already.

“In response, the county council and the police will be jointly delivering two training session to primary heads under the government’s Prevent program before the end of the year,” said a spokesman for Buckinghamshire County Council.

The letter also asks teachers to call the police if they see “suspicious bags, behavior or vehicles.” This request follows the change of terror threat from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe level’ back in September. The new mark means an attack is highly likely.

Recently it was reported that the Muslim minority face the worst job discrimination of any minority group. Perceived as a “threat” and “disloyal” fuelled by the continuously increasing anti-Muslim atmosphere, Muslim men were 76% less likely to have a job compared to white British Christians.

The Muslim Purge Continues

The teachers at the Birmingham Trojan Hoax schools, now rendered unemployable thanks to a barrage of lies, twists and imposed interpretation of statements perhaps can relate to the above report. In a previous blog I noted how nine Muslim teachers (and one Sikh teacher) had been suspended. The latest news according to sources is that a further five Muslim teachers have been suspended. And so the Muslim purge continues. If anything the blatant Muslim targeting and discriminatory treatment is exasperated by the fact Golden Hillock School’s evangelical, controversial Riverside Church-linked Jo Tyler, who has serious allegations of nepotism, financial mismanagement and questionable contract-dealings, has still not been suspended pending further investigation.It is not only the professional section of the schooling structure which has created a discriminatory atmosphere. According to sources, parents of children at Golden Hillock School are feeling the pressure from the agenda-driven incursion forced in by Michael Gove.

The Threat of PREVENT Police

I have heard of many anecdotal reports of PREVENT police acting possibly illegally, from putting off Islamic venues from hosting speakers and events to scaring mosques in order to discourage support for peaceful protests. The PREVENT officers, if reports are to believed, are the slightly timid form of the gestapo.If we recall, Colin Diamond and David McVean had made assurances that parents will be fully engaged. At that time, repeated attempts of engagement by parents were being ignored.On Tuesday 25th of November, there was a parents meeting at Golden Hillock School for their input into the school development plan.

My sources are stating that the parents were somewhat mute and not contributing much. Upon enquiring as to why this was the case, multiple parents said that if they questioned the school too much especially around religion, they would be reported to the PREVENT team and could be arrested. Another parent stated that the head teacher would refer the parents to PREVENT (though I have not been able to verify this latter claim).Parents, in other words, have been intimidated against contributing towards the development of the school. One parent, Mohammed Ashraf, decided to ask some questions at the meeting who was promptly deferred by the principal Tony Wilson to the end of the meeting with instructions that questions would be taken then. What happens next is nothing short of shocking. In a letter of complaint to Ofsted, Ashraf has written that,

“Mr Wilson decided to skip the questions (which he suggested earlier) and ask parents to go to their isolated groups. Out of sheer frustration of being ignored once again, I challenged the purpose of the meeting as box ticking exercise for Ofsted and NOT a two way dialogue with parents. At that point it had become clear to me that the school had no interest in listening to parents but fulfilling their parental consultation tick box for the school development plan which Ofsted would see.”

Eventually when he was able to speak and highlighted his concern and the potential impact on his child as a result of an oversight that an external governor’s review highlighted that the previous governing body of eleven governors was insufficient and the new body, constituted of seven governors went against recommendations. Wilson in an alleged display of arrogance stated that, it’s about quality not quantity which the school didn’t have previously. Ashraf found his response during the interaction “patronising”:

“Mr Wilson started to pull faces and kept on rolling his eyes which I found extremely patronizing and unprofessional, something I point out when we were talking”.

Parents Feeling Intimidated

My sources who have corroborated the above information state that other parents in the room were shocked by the way in which Ashraf was treated. They felt bullied and intimidated expressing the notion that, if a vocal person is to be treated like this what chance did they have in contributing to the discussions.Come on Wilshaw, allegations of bullying, intimidation, using PREVENT officers as a threat, ignoring of white, Christian evangelical teachers perpetrating similar allegations made against those formerly at PVET, but the mass suspensions of Muslim teachers. This sounds like a discriminatory, racist recipe for institutional disaster! Whenever there is pressure of this kind exerted on a minority, desperate circumstances will bequeath consequences. The tragic events of Ferguson and the response of the people comes to mind.In what is a sign of this kind of desperation, when Ofsted did come down to PVET, a group of 30 parents managed to meet with the inspectors and expressed their views about the situation in the school very strongly. The school which had vacancies in the first place, now, as a result of the “Muslim purge” as even more vacancies. The quality of education is dropping. These grievances were aired very loudly, according to sources, to Ofsted and the parents pinned the blame directly on the new-arrivals leading PVET – Executive Principal Adrian Packer, Chair of PVET Kamal Hanif, and his alleged handler, Colin Diamond, the Deputy Education Commissioner in Birmingham for Department for Education.What is more, my sources have stated that a teacher from within the school vociferously criticised the senior leadership team in the teacher’s discussion with Ofsted. This is pertinent because the teacher is not a second-class citizen Muslim, but a person whose statements greater legitimacy and weight; he or she is white a non-Muslim.

Concluding Remarks

What can I say? The continued allegations of nepotism (and yes, there are more examples of higher-ranking nepotism to come) financial mismanagement (under past employees and those still present), knowledge of snap-inspections and evangelicaltakeover plots etc. have not twitched the consciousness of government officials and second-rate establishment journalists in the media. I am, through my blogs, practically handing the information of allegations on a platter for investigations to take place and there is nothing but a deadly ignorance of the “white” crimes taking place. The message, in this tacit approval is clear. Wrong religion, wrong race.Well done Mr Gove. You have decimated a high-achieving school. Most decent teachers have been suspended, and the schools can’t recruit good teachers because the school’s reputation has been brashly tarnished. In short, you have effectively managed to destroy potentially two generations of young people. Mission accomplished.

We are pleased that the Trojan Horse Hoax has finally been exposed by a welcomed cross-party Education Select Committee report, but has too much damage already been done?

Last year the sensationalist spotlight fell on Birmingham. [1] Amidst the barrage of accusations lay an ideological agenda, [2] one which rubber-stamped an existing narrative in the minds of people. That narrative says Muslims are here as a pervasive fifth column whose long-term goal is to take over this country and overturn its institutions. In an attempt to indoctrinate the minds of the general public, every new controversy (actual or manufactured) is recruited as proof for this narrative by such ideologues. A welcomed report by the influential Education Select Committee shatters much of what was claimed to be true in the Trojan Hoax affair, namely that there was no evidence of any ‘radical’ or ‘extremist’ plot. [3]

These events drive home the fact that whilst much of the media acts as the delivery mechanism for the radicalisation of the masses, it is some politicians who manufacture the necessary outrage. It is the claim of extremism that was evident in the Ofsted leaks to the press, but were absent in the inspection reports that remains the clearest example of how institutionalised the securitisation of Muslims has become.

Now that the Trojan Hoax affair has done its damage, the intervention by the Education Select Committee is a welcome, albeit late intervention.

Michael Gove, the neoconservative politician, who was at the helm of the Department for Education during the affair has been accused of politicising Ofsted. His book Celsius 7/7 has been accurately described by Geoffrey Wheatcroft as a ‘Muslim – bashing diatribe’. [4] The fact that Celsius 7/7 contains a chapter titled ‘Trojan Horse’ – let’s just say the irony was not lost on Muslim parents in Birmingham.

MPs on the cross-party Education Select Committee criticised Gove’s response to Trojan Horse, he was adamant there was an extremist takeover of schools in Birmingham and used Ofsted to establish his neocon standpoint. Gove’s removal was a means to repair relations with stakeholders but if—as it has been claimed [5]—that the neocons, including Gove, are still shaping policy in the Department for Education, the direction of education policy does not bode well for Muslims.

The Committee’s report makes clear,

“No evidence of extremism or radicalisation, apart from a single isolated incident, was found by any of the inquiries and there was no evidence of a sustained plot nor of a similar situation pertaining elsewhere in the country.” [6]

There were issues in those schools as there are in most schools. There are widespread problems with governors rubber stamping the actions of the head teacher rather than acting as they should, an arm of accountability of the school and as a critical friend. There are also many failings in leadership of schools, as well as in relation to teaching and learning. Whilst in most schools Ofsted does its best to support schools to improve, unfortunately Muslim independent schools, as well as schools in which there is either a significant presence of Muslims on governing bodies or in the Senior Management Team, have been treated with a level of suspicion that suggests clear discriminatory practice.

Often there is a perceived suspicion or belief that children are being radicalised or there is extremism in schools and inspectors’ behaviour suggest they are looking for a reason to place the school in special measures.

Many perceive Ofsted to be politicised and that perception is damaging to its reputation. The report also suggests Ofsted needs to restore confidence in its position as an independent inspectorate. Its lack of consistency in inspections, the way it leaks sensational information, the manner in which it questions children have inflicted irreparable harm to its reputation.

The report concludes,

“Ofsted’s inability to identify problems at some Birmingham schools on first inspection when they were found shortly afterwards to be failing raises questions about the appropriateness of the framework and the reliability and robustness of Ofsted’s judgements and how they are reached. Either Ofsted relied too heavily on raw data and did not dig deep enough on previous occasions or alternatively the schools deteriorated so quickly that Ofsted reports were rapidly out of date, or it could be that inspectors lost objectivity and came to some overly negative conclusions because of the surrounding political and media storm. Whichever of these options is closest to the truth, confidence in Ofsted has been undermined and efforts should be made by the inspectorate to restore it in Birmingham and beyond.” [7]

If Ofsted is unwilling to act as anything other than a politicised arm of government, any remaining faith will be diminished and it will be clear to all that it is in fact Ofsted that will need to be placed into special measures.

An inspector for education watchdog Ofsted has been jailed for two years for child grooming and making indecent images of children.

Adam Higgins, 48, of Maypole Close, Saffron Walden, was arrested by Essex Police in September last year after a tip off from the National Crime Agency.

At the time he was working as an inspector for Ofsted. He was suspended from his role and later resigned.

He admitted two counts of making indecent images of children.

Appearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, Higgins also pleaded guilty to one charge of inciting a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.

Det Insp Daniel Stoten, from Essex Police, said:"This man held a position of trust which makes the fact that he was making indecent images of children and grooming a young boy online even more despicable."

'Sense of revulsion'

Higgins was put on the sex offenders register indefinitely and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

HM Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said: "As Ofsted's chief inspector, I share the sense of revulsion at the thought that an individual trusted with improving the education of young people has behaved in this way.

"While the police have confirmed that there is no reason to believe any pupils at the schools he inspected were at risk during his inspection visits, we have liaised closely with the schools and local authority areas in which Mr Higgins worked and will continue to do so over any concerns they may have.

"While this is a deeply shocking case and a matter of profound regret, we believe we did everything we could to check his background. It serves as a reminder of the need for continual vigilance when it comes to safeguarding children."

10/2016Birmingham. The geographic centre of the “Trojan Horse” fabrications unlocked varying manifestations of hatred. Among other things, it empowered racist, anti-Muslim teachers to bully and intimidate Muslim teachers and attack Islamic practices; it legitimised political Islamophobia through the entrenchment the discriminatory PREVENT Strategy; and it led to state-sanctioned psychological child abuse within schools thanks to PREVENT. The fickleness of the bevy of allegations, which I challenged and exposed throughout 2014 and 2015, are being found to be groundless even by the inquisition panels specifically set up by the Department of Education to try Muslims. However, the PREVENT implementation has rapidly permeated the public structures of society and continues to do so whilst remaining toxically anti-Muslim, yielding damaging results.

“Extremism” Hierarchy based on Mosques

According to sources in Birmingham, certain schools have implemented an intelligence gathering programme targeting and profiling Muslim pupils. It is alleged that these schools have identified each Muslim pupil and the mosque they and their family attend. The mosques are then being used to determine the child’s theological affiliation. Based on this, my source says, the schools “know which child is at greater risk of radicalisation”.This trend is not dissimilar to the behaviour of Ofsted which I found when investigating the Trojan Hoax claims. In May 2014, I published a blog in which I exposed that teachers were asked which mosques they attended. At that time, I had speculated this was being done in order to determine the theological leanings of the teachers. The present situation lends credence to this speculation.If the claims are true, this is a shockingly preposterous situation. Not only is PREVENT discriminatorily targeting the Muslim minority, schools are adding a further layer of discrimination by marginalising minorities within minorities and placing differing Islamic groups into hierarchies of vulnerability, effectively based on personal religious beliefs.

The Source of the Information: Ofsted Inspector

Before the PREVENT cheerleaders, whom are currently in disarray following the comprehensive deconstruction of their policy of persecution, highlight that this is merely a “slip” which can be “fixed”, it is worth pointing out that this information was leaked by an Ofsted Inspector who was, it is claimed, encouraging school leaders at a different school to implement this practice.In other words, Ofsted is allegedly encouraging Muslim profiling and discrimination on grounds of belief as “good practice” for implementing PREVENT.According to sources, the Ofsted HMI, whose name will be kept anonymous for now, confirmed that a number of “Outstanding” schools had implemented this mosque-based vulnerability hierarchy, and then urged the school leaders to look at the “good work” Greet Primary School is doing. My source stated that it was not clear whether this school had implemented the policy.

Greet Primary School

What is clear is that the school is fully aboard the racist PREVENT policy. Greet Primary School (Percy Rd, Birmingham) is situated in an area of Birmingham that has a high concentration of Muslims. On its website, it proudly proclaims that “Greet values = British values”, and that the school would “actively challenge pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British values, including ‘extremist’ views”. In other words, the school is seriously bending over backwards to prove it’s PREVENT implementation to the extent that it is ready to “challenge” even parents over “extremist” views. Aside from the question of establishing “extremist” views, how this squares with mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs is a conundrum intrinsic to PREVENT rather than school.It is interesting to note that the executive head teacher of the school is Pat Smart. When the then Park View Academy was taken over after Ofsted had swept in with their pretext to establish the British Values counter-extremism agenda, amongst those who took over the school once it was purged of Muslims was Smart. At that time, she was listed as a board member for the Birmingham Education Partnership (BEP), which was headed by white supremacist Tim Boyes. Boyes was a vocal voice in perpetuating lies during the height of the Trojan Hoax (see details here). The BEP was handsomely rewarded last year by the Birmingham City Council to the cool tune of £11.7 million to prevent “another Trojan Horse” and put in place “new rigorous checks will be in place to prevent any potential extremists slipping through the net”. The training would include guidance on “religious extremism”.

Parent Awareness

This is not safeguarding; this is akin to policies in Nazi Germany. The racial policies at that time were also justified through “scientific” legitimacy. PREVENT, like those Nazi policies, has no legitimacy. It is for parents to understand that PREVENT is a discriminatory, failed programme, with politicians now calling for it to be scrapped (see here and here). Moreover, over 150 academics and professors have signed a letter raising concerns about the “implementation of ‘radicalisation’ policies within the UK Prevent strategy”, namely that the science underpinning PREVENT “has not been subjected to proper scientific scrutiny or public critique.” For further details about the baselessness of PREVENT, see here.Questions must be asked. Are parents in Birmingham aware of these alleged programmes of persecution? Did they give consent for their child’s data about the mosque they visit to be captured? If not, how was this information collected?

Parents must first determine and then challenge the school’s blatant Muslim profiling and discrimination based on personal religious beliefs. Further, upright, reasonable teachers who are at these school must build their courage, step forward and whistle-blow these anti-Muslim policies by naming the school engaged in this profiling.

Raising the next generation of Muslims according to Islamic principles and education is being criminalized.

by Shohana Khan - May 31, 2014

For every people, children are the greatest investment because we can build every element of our lives in this world. But within a few decades, it will mean less to you and me than the dust that surrounds us deep in the ground. For our children though, the next generation, what we build today means something.

As Muslims we understand this idea, more than anything that who you are is carried on in your children. The legacy of great Muslims shines in their children or their children’s children. Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (may allah be pleased with him), regarded as the fifth khulufaa rashida (rightly guided Caliphate) was the progeny of Umar ibn al Khattab (may allah be pleased with him) and the girl, who famously didn’t mix milk with water. Her story is one we tell our children today to teach them about the meaning of taqwa, as is the story of her grandson – the eminent Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (may allah be pleased with him). This is among other stories of righteous scholars, born from dedicated and pious mothers, throughout the history of Islam. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) made dua for Hasan (may allah be pleased with him) and Hussain (may allah be pleased with him) to be protected in their future, which is the dua from the Sunnah we make for our children today.

Abu Hurayrah (may allah be pleased with him) reported that Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When a human being dies, all of his deeds are terminated except for three types: an on-going sadaqah (charity), knowledge (of Islam) from which others benefit, and a righteous child who makes dua for him.”(Sahih Muslim).

Criminalization of Muslim schools

As a Muslim community we know we hold a great responsibility to raise our children in a manner that they hold onto their Deen. We want to raise adults who look after us in our old age, who hold the Qur’an in their hearts, who care for their neighbors, who tell the truth whatever the situation, who walk the ground with humility. So that when we are dead and gone, Islam is the light by which this community is led.

However we know the obstacles of carrying Islam in this manner, is being challenged today. The damning draft Ofsted report released on the Islamic school in Luton and the ominous “Trojan Horse” scandal of the Birmingham schools, have left Muslim parents and educationalists feeling that our efforts with tomorrow’s Ummah is a problem.

We have always been told as a community we cannot isolate ourselves, ghettoise ourselves – and Muslim parents for years have gotten involved, taking up civic positions like parent governors in order to address the needs of Muslim pupils in a state school environment. But the hype and rhetoric of the Trojan Horse document has now deemed such attempts as the infiltration of “extremists”. Sending the message across the board, that Muslims cannot be active in their children’s schools without unleashing desires for power which arise from their bloodthirsty religion, dictated by the sword. Before any proof has been presented, the Birmingham schools were painted as having experienced a “bloodless coup” by hard line Muslims and that Islam was taking over every aspect of school life.

So if being active in state schools is “infiltration” then what about our independent schools? Well, our own schools, set up independently off the back of our community has also raised similar furor.

Ofsted has had to come to the rescue in these “breeding centers for terrorists” (as they have come to be seen) by discreetly quizzing nine-year-olds about their knowledge of wider societal practices. This inappropriate interrogation of children in Luton’s Olive Tree Primary, shows how far an objective organization like Ofsted will go, in order to “examine” a Muslim school.

Witch-hunting Muslims

The witch-hunting of the Muslim community shows one thing. That despite a range of faith schools existing from a host of communities, Christian, Jewish to Hindu – it is the Muslim schools and efforts of Muslim parents that are a threat. The Christian community, with the largest number of faith schools across the country, still significantly do believe homosexuality is a sin. The Archbishop recently released guidance to tackle homophobic bullying in schools, still acknowledging the significant religious view.

Orthodox Jews believe in gender segregation, with single sex schools in the UK. Islam, however, seems to be the only punch bag for such views by Michael Gove, licensing his sensationalist sweeping measures around Muslim schools. All because, anything can go in the name of tackling extremism in the Muslim community today.

This whipped up fury may appear like a big giant for us to overcome, as has been the gender segregation debate and calls to ban the niqab. But it is a giant we must push back on, with trust in Allah (swt) that He (swt) will support us and assist us. As a community we must come together to resist this pressure against the bringing up of our next generation. This is something we cannot compromise on an inch, and if we were to, it will do nothing but legitimize the vilification of it. We will rubber stamp the idea propagated, that we are trying to teach our children things which are harmful to society, breeding hatred and terrorists. This we know, could not be any further from the truth: “O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones.” (Quran 66:4)

This ayah stands today as it did yesterday and will tomorrow. That we must do everything in our power to save our children from the Hellfire, despite the overwhelming pressure we feel against media giants and anti-Islamic politicians. Many of us still have points to raise at the school PTA meeting about how our children will get through the school day in Ramadan in this climate; we may have children who will be going to a Muslim school where they will study the deen. We have to be brave and carry on. It is time, to increase our efforts not decrease them.

Confidence

Muslim schools must confidently argue that they are one of the greatest achievements of the UK population. The Muslim community have garnered together much needed funds to establish a wealth of schools up and down the country. These schools have sought to instill values in the next generation that can only benefit the society they will live in. The belief that the idea of God consciousness, sense of accountability, values of compassion, care and responsibility to be helpful members of society which Islamic education imbibes is crucial for the adults of tomorrow.

The truth is, Muslim schools are producing children that this very society needs in a time where increasing materialism, individualism and a hedonistic culture is engulfing the youth. To claim Muslim schools are creating people harmful for society is not only the grossest case of libel, but laughable – when scores of state schools find difficulty in getting the child to respect the teacher.

But yes, ultimately it is another attack on our deen (faith) and Islamic lifestyle; we may feel we are not strong enough to stand up against it. It was Prophet Dawud (peace be upon him) who came forward before the giant Jalut, knowing his battle didn’t look promising from the outside. But He (peace be upon him) knew how important it was to stand up for the sake of the Haqq (truth).

Dawud (peace be upon him) was told to not even fight as his father felt he was too young and weak. But he went forward, persevering and as Allah says that it was He who ultimately gave him the firm decision: “And We strengthened his kingdom and gave him wisdom and discernment in speech.” (Quran 38:20)

Our feeling of being cornered is true being a minority community with little access to the media. But the stories of the Prophets that we read to our children, give us a strong lesson about perseverance despite how hard it appears because we don’t shape what happens, as a result of our efforts. Only Allah has the power to do that.

Finally, if we were to dip into our future fifty years from now, to see a community whose Islam was merely in a sir name and nothing else, we would be devastated because to just live means nothing, without living with the deen of our Creator.

The mission for the preservation of Islam was not just the mission of the last Messenger of Allah, but has become the mission of this minority community in the UK in the 21st century.

Cameron calls for a ‘muscular’ campaign to enforce secular liberalism on Muslims in the UK: Muslims in Britain must hold onto Islam and resist attempts to assimilate into the creed of secular liberalism

David Cameron took Education Secretary, Michael Gove’s, comments on Britishness to another level when he suggested it was time to get ‘muscular’ about promoting British values.

He stated that adoption of these values was no longer ‘optional’, and that the British had to stop being ‘squeamish’ about promoting them forthrightly.

Coming in the aftermath of Ofsted’s inspection into the alleged Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham, his intended subjects were clear: Muslims hadn’t done enough to become British and had to be taught a lesson or two about the country whose values they were now required to adopt as their own.

Whilst a national debate ensued over the need to impose British values, it quickly became clear that no-one could put their finger on what these values were, or define which were inherently British.

The list of values has become comical, as politicians, media outlets and patriots desperately claimed all things to be British. But, democracy began in ancient Greece, not Britain. Tolerance existed well before the Roman conquest of the British Isles. The rule of law predates the Magna Carta by at least six centuries. Freedom, whether of speech, assembly or economic rights, was grudgingly introduced in a piecemeal fashion into Britain and was, in fact, largely an import from Europe.

It is no wonder that British values are so hard to define. Many aspects of culture that politicians claim ownership of, are in fact neither inherently nor indigenously British. But then how could they be? How can a practice or value be linked to a piece of land or a tribe? Rather, the values that people adopt are part of a common tradition adopted by the people over time, wherever they came from. If they are a hotchpotch of values borrowed from the immigrants, as is the case with Britain, then they are ever bound to change. They will remain for a while until superseded by something more useful. This is the problem with defining British values; freedom, tolerance and the rule of law are all appearing little out-dated, as Muslim citizens in Britain have expected them to apply to them too.

Such hypocrisy, however, will be recognized as truly British. Along with colonialism, arrogant superiority, and social and economic decadence, these are the British values the world is more familiar with.

Despite Cameron’s claim that Britain holds impeccable democratic credentials by virtue of housing the mother of all parliaments, it has been compromised by corporate interests, lobbyists, wealthy donors, and financial abuse by its own MPs. Britain pioneered aggressive global colonization and has a track record of supporting brutal, tyrannical dictatorships (not democracy) across the world, in a continuing colonial campaign to subjugate the world to British interests. Only last week Maj. General Tim Cross, Britain’s most senior officer in planning the Iraq invasion in 2003, told BBC Radio 4 “we pushed Asad into a corner too soon… the lesser of two evils in that region is a strong dictator!” Britain is very happy to create and work with brutal murdering dictators, if they serve British economic interests; i.e. the interests of a few large British corporations.

Despite claiming to uphold the rule of law and celebrating the Magna Carta, Britain is a surveillance society, supports secret trials and readily strips people of their citizenship. But any claim of tolerance is laughable when the British government is highly intolerant of basic orthodox Islamic beliefs and values, and initiates a ‘muscular’ campaign to forcibly convert those it deems insufficiently British, despite claiming to uphold the principle of ‘choice’.

Cameron had the audacity to argue British values should be promoted because of their economic and social strength. Did he mean the casino capitalism that unleashed global financial suffering? Or the liberalism and individualism which has caused social chaos in Britain, having promoted selfish and immoral lives, family break-down, youth delinquency, the dissolution of community values and disrespect for the law?

If these are the poster-boys for British values, then it is no wonder many Muslims and non-Muslims have turned their backs on such a ‘British’ identity.

“When they are told, ‘Do not cause corruption on the earth,’ they say, ‘We are only putting things right.’ No indeed! They are the corrupters, but they are not aware of it.”(Quran 2:12)

In light of this recent intensification of efforts to force Muslims to abandon their Islamic values, forcibly assimilate them and secularize Islam, we take this opportunity to remind the Muslim community in Britain of the following:

Islamic values stand in contrast to liberal secular values, which lie at the heart of modern social, economic and political chaos. Islam does not promote the ideas of personal freedom to behave as you like, to dress as you like, to mix with whomsoever you like, and to get rich in any way that you like. Islam promotes the idea of basing one’s behavior on the Shariah rules and reminds people that Allah does not like debauchery, exploitation and oppression.

The liberal secular values establish a foundation where personal benefit is the ultimate criteria for right and wrong. When “What’s in it for me?” is all that matters do not be surprised to see more and more TV celebrities exposed for the exploitation of children. Furthermore, material wealth is the only wealth recognized by a liberal society, so the suffering and oppression of others becomes justifiable, as material progress must not be restricted.“But if anyone turns away from My reminder, his life will be a dark and narrow one and on the Day of Rising We will gather him blind.’”(Quran 20:124)

Britain will protect liberal secular, not Islamic values. Some Muslims have reacted with alarm at the British government’s actions. To the aware Muslim however, this course of action is not so peculiar. The foundations of British life are liberal, secular and capitalist and so the British state protects, fosters and promotes these values at home and abroad, with only the utilitarian value of self interest as a matter of concern.

Islamic values will only be tolerated where they happen to coincide with British values, and even then only if they fit British interests at the time, not because they are Islamic. We cannot therefore expect the British state to protect our Islamic values on raising children, views on sexuality, dress-code, men-women relations, and speaking out against tyranny, amongst others. What we can expect is that where these come into conflict with British interests, pressure is directed at Muslims to abandon their Islamic values which we have seen regarding a number of issues recently. We can expect there to be “red lines” for Muslims that are not red lines for British society, and we can equally expect that the state will try to enforce its red lines, not ours.

The only state that will actively encourage and promote Islamic values and allow them to preside over society is likewise one that is based upon Islam, not secular liberal capitalism. That is the Islamic State that Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) told us would return after these oppressive times: the Khilafah. He (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said “and then there will be Khilafah upon the Prophetic method.” Muslims all over the world are today working for and looking forward to the return of the Khilafah in the Muslim lands. The recent trials placed at the door of the Muslim community serve only to remind us that Khilafah is the only state in which our prayer, charity, children, families, transactions and political life are truly protected according the Islamic principles we hold so dear, and which allow us to live according to them without hesitation or fear; to truly live an Islamic way of life.

The British government is reacting to the growing strength of Islam. Rather than become more secular and liberal, Muslims in Britain are strengthening their adherence to Islam, showing a greater desire to learn about its Shariah and fulfill its responsibilities.

Furthermore, Muslims have continued to support Muslims in conflict zones such Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Burma and beyond with their tongue and with their money, due to their continued belief that Muslims represent one body – an Ummah – whose suffering is shared regardless of geography, ethnicity or language. This is in response to the statement of Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) “The example of the believers is like the body, if part of it hurts the rest of it falters.” This poses a challenge to Britain’s colonial interests and disrupts its desire to continue its tyrannical agenda in the Muslim world. Therefore, it serves British and Western colonial interests for Muslims to take Islam less seriously and more readily serve British interests.

Europe’s Catholic Inquisition discovered that the only way to keep people ‘faithful’ was to use force rather than solid proof. In Spain they were able to forcibly prevent Islamic beliefs from having any space in the public or private discourse. The British government today now see that they cannot prevent the spread of Islamic beliefs and values through convincing argument; so they too are attempting to impose their liberal secular beliefs, even on the children, regardless of the detriment to their well-being.

In contrast to the British government’s modern inquisition to convert unbelieving Muslims, Islam does not force non-believers to adopt contradictory beliefs. The faith and rituals of non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic State are not interfered with. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “He who has embraced Judaism and he who has embraced Christianity, they should not be coerced away from their faith.”

Islam is sufficient for us. With the barrage of criticisms, and now with a call to force Muslims to change, Muslims are deliberately being made to feel that Islam is inferior, to erode their adherence to its beliefs and practices.

Muslims must not apologies for Islam. In truth the liberal secular values are ever bound to fail to solve the problems of mankind. They are not revealed by the Creator and actually stand in contradiction to that which He did send down.

O Muslims! You are in a battle of truth against falsehood. The ideological battle is being waged against you today, with liberal secularism on the side of falsehood, and Islam on the side of truth. The liberals know no shame as they are even bringing your school children into this conflict. You know the truth and how Islam is better for the people, if only they knew. So, you must be the one who conveys it to the people, until they come to know it too.

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) informed us: “After you there are going to be days of patience. The patience during that time is like the one clutching on to a hot coal. During those days the reward for the one who adheres to the Commands of Allah will be equivalent to the reward of fifty men who did an action like his.”

The Islamic Shariah is superior to all other Shariah. The Islamic Shariah is only taken from the revealed texts of the Quran and Sunnah, which do not change according the interests of a few powerful oppressors.“Say: ‘Come and I will recite to you what your Lord has made forbidden for you’: that you do not associate anything with Him; that you are good to your parents; that you do not kill your children because of poverty – We will provide for you and them; that you do not approach indecency – outward or inward; that you do not kill any person Allah has made inviolate – except with the right to do so. That is what He instructs you to do so that hopefully you will use your intellect.”(Quran 6:151)

O Muslims! Hold proudly onto the values of Islam, never fearing to adhere to them and promote them at every opportunity. Hold onto your own way of raising your children and do not begin to teach them secular ideas of freedom. Hold onto marriage as the basis of family life and do not teach them promiscuity and homosexuality. Hold onto condemning the evil of the Western colonial foreign policies and do not abandon your brothers in Islam who suffer daily from their dictators. Hold onto the call for the Khilafah, for it is the savior for you and your brothers globally.

O Muslims! It is only the Islamic values that are revealed by the Creator. They are superior to all other values and are bound to shine when held onto by the believers.

“Do not give up and do not be downhearted. You shall be uppermost if you are believers.”(Quran 3:139)